


Unforeseen

by DreamingDragon, Mind Of The Dragon (DreamingDragon)



Series: Skyward [2]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-11
Updated: 2014-08-27
Packaged: 2018-01-19 01:06:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 19
Words: 66,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1449625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamingDragon/pseuds/DreamingDragon, https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamingDragon/pseuds/Mind%20Of%20The%20Dragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's two years since Rodney's mobility and speech were lost following the Jumper crash and John suspects that despite evidence to the contrary, Rodney has not quite adjusted as well as he makes people believe. But John realises this too late as Rodney takes a risky gamble that may well change his life and the lives of those around him, forever. Sequel to Skyward. Whump, H/C Angst</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_**Another Stargate Atlantis fic? A sequel to Skyward? Maybe...** _

_**I know it has been quite some time since I wrote Skyward, and many of you wanted a sequel to find out what became of poor McKay and Sheppard. This has been taken out and mused over then put away again for so long it is not even funny, yet I knew one day I would sit down to it. So, in order to see if any of you are still around/interested and see if it is worth completing, I thought I would throw up the first chapter. As with Skyward, it promises to be an angst filled whumping tale with our favourite Lanteans. ;)  
** _

_**If you have not read Skyward, I recommend reading it first, otherwise this story might be quite confusing. ;)** _

_**Comments are cookies for the soul of the Dragon, feed me! :D** _

* * *

_"Rodney move it!"_

_His hands are before him, pulling at wires and crystals, replacing or discarding them as he looks over the schematics on his tablet. He is very conscious of the Wraith Dart that Sheppard is unable to shake or take down and is well aware that it won't stop firing at them until they are vaporized._

_"I've nearly got it!" He yells back to John as the PuddleJumper is rocked by yet another hit. He hears the loud clunking noise that sounds every time Sheppard tries to fire weapons, exasperated that it still isn't working._

_"Rodney get over here!" John shouts again and Rodney can tell by his voice that he is preparing for a less than favourable outcome to this mission._

_"I've nearly got it!" He shouts back irritated._

_He is suddenly slammed forcefully onto the panel he is working on when the ship is rocked by yet another impact. He is shocked for a second as the pain in his face brings tears to his eyes and he wipes at the steady warm flow that is now running from his nose as he focuses on the blood splattered crystal array, frantically trying to bring the weapons system back online._

_"There! Try it now!" He shouts over the noise in the cockpit, his heart leaping as John successfully fires the Jumpers weapons at the Dart, unable to contain a small cry of elation as at least one drone hits home. But his glee is short lived and his heart sinks as he watches the Dart quickly change direction and unleash another attack on the Jumper that plunges it into darkness._

_"The entire system just went down!" John yells, his voice sounding oddly faded._

_For a moment Rodney can do nothing but stare out as the Dart comes round for another shot, speedily drawing closer with its weapons firing. He can hear his blood pumping loudly in his ears, can feel his heart racing in his chest and he stands there frozen until John's frantic shouting brings him back to his senses._

_"I ...I can fix this!" He shouts back, determined to get the systems back online and save their asses as John tries everything he can to try and level out a ship that is currently falling like a brick down through the upper atmosphere of a rarely visited planet. Rodney wipes at his nose as he replaces a crystal and watches as the systems come back online. Turning back to John with a grin, the pilot battles to level out the Jumper then turns it towards the approaching Wraith dart as both ships now streak madly across the planets bright blue sky._

_"Time to take this son of a bitch down." John growls and fires._

_The Wraith Dart explodes into a million pieces of flaming wreckage, most of which burns up with in ferocity of the explosion. But they both watch in horror as a large piece of the Darts pointed nose is propelled towards them faster than John can maneuver his damaged ship and it collides with the Jumper causing an explosion in the weapons array that rips the ship open like a tin can. The ship shudders and veers into a shallow nose dive, spiraling lazily as John fights to bring it back under some kind of control._

_"I can't get it back!" John is yelling over the noise of the alarms and the deafening roar that fills the cockpit from the jagged hole in the falling Jumper. "It's no use Rodney! Get back here and strap in!"_

_But Rodney is unable to let go of the cargo netting that his hands have clawed into, anchoring him as the rest of his body flays around in the spinning ship. He is aware of John, twisting in his seat with his hand reaching out for him, but Rodney is too scared to even try and grab his outstretched hand. There comes the terrible screaming sound of tearing metal and he sees light shining through stress breaks in the massive plates above him as the strength of the air being forced through the ragged hole begins to tear the ill fated ship apart. He is somewhat thankful that they are in the planets atmosphere, knowing all too well what a hull breach would mean if they were still in the dark vacuum of space._

_He looks fearfully back towards John, who has loosened his restraining belt enough as to let him reach closer to Rodney while still providing some kind of anchor point to the pilots seat. His face is full of concern as he sees the hull breaching too, his eyes locking onto Rodney's, showing a look of fear that Rodney has never seen in them before, the sight of which spurs him into letting one hand go of the cargo netting and reach for John's outstretched hand._

_But John's image suddenly ripples and morphs into a Wraith, its evil eyes stare at him as its long white hair whips wildly about its head and it reaches for him with its huge strong hand with the feeding slit only too obviously. Rodney recoils and tries to pull himself away from the abomination, attempting to kick at it, only to find that he is unable to move anything below his waist. He looks down to find that he has no feet, does not even legs. Attached below his stomach is a heap of twisted metal that is bent and shaped around a solitary wheel and the scream that tears from his throat is enough to..._ waken him out of his nightmare and back into the reality of his bedroom, drenched in sweat and shaking uncontrollably.

Rodney wiped his face and sighed as he woke from the bad dream. The nightmare is always the same, never changing. No matter how many times his mind replays the cursed images the nightmare never fails to drag him screaming from sleep. Panting, he felt his way down his body as he often did after that particular nightmare, just to remind himself that he was fully human and not a horrific amalgamation of flesh and twisted metal. The sigh that escaped his lips was filled with relief when he felt his thighs were flesh and blood and not cold metal. His only saving grace was that the nightmares did not occur with the frequency they once had, this being the first time he suffered one in some weeks.

For the most part, he believed that this particular nightmare was in fact, details of everything that happened in the lead up to the crash which resulted in his confinement to a wheelchair. Everything, that is, with the exception of his becoming some weird twisted unicycle, which he knew full well came from a deep aversion to the wheelchair he now relied on. He remembered very little of the crash consciously, but he was almost one hundred percent sure that the start of the nightmare was exactly what happened on that fateful day. The very fact that in the dream he is trying in vain to save the ship when it crashed seems to add up with his injuries and the reason that John had left his pilots chair to become lodged beneath it. But it doesn't matter which part of the nightmare is real or not, his waking nightmare remains the same and he continued to be reliant on a wheelchair for his everyday mobility.

He had tried to walk again, of course he had. Long days of sweat and extreme pain, managing only to struggle a few torturous steps with the heavy aid of two people who spoke to him words of encouragement that only made him angry at them and himself. In the end he was forced to accept the original diagnosis that Carson had given him; that he would never walk again. Not once had he been able to get out of the chair and walk unaided wherever he liked. Not once had he been able to utter a word or form a sentence that could be heard by others while awake. Not once in the last two years, had he been allowed to forget the happenings on the fateful day that had robbed him of his independence.

Turning his head on the soft pillow he looked at the contraption that he hated so much and his face pulled into a tired sneer but relaxed again as reminded himself that he was lucky to still be alive. He had decided long ago that if this was to be his life now; he would do what he had always done and push himself to the very limits of his abilities. Rodney McKay had never settled for second place and he wasn't about to do that now. He had never run from a challenge, and he certainly wasn't about to start. But there were days, like today, when the last vestiges of his nightmare would leave him thinking, why me? But staying on Atlantis left him little time for self pity and today would be no exception. John would, as always, be there to drag him out of the depths of despair and bring a smile to his silent lips. Today was excursion day, or as John had come to name it, Arennar day, so named after an Athosian child badly pronounced the acronym for rest and relaxation.

He had suggested a visit to the Gardens of the Nulumn on the planet Muo. A mountain top plateau which boasted not only beautiful gardens, but a fantastic cliff top eatery that was fast becoming a favourite haunt of the personnel in Atlantis, the Colonel included, whenever they had some downtime. It served a most delicious sizzling dish called the Gnator Muo'sh platter that Rodney and John had taken a huge liking to. But even though the mere thought of the wildly tasty meat dish made his mouth water, the thought of pushing his damned chair up the winding narrow paths that crisscrossed the side of the Nulumn mountain was less than appealing. Flying up in the Puddle Jumper wasn't an option as the Muo'as had not only survived but thrived due to a dampening field surrounding the mountain and major settlements at its base, a similar dampening field to the one that brought down their Puddle Jumper on M7G-677.

He lay there trying to think of excuses to give John as to why he could not go out today, each excuse sounding lamer than the one before. The nightmare had placed his mood in one less willing to enjoy company let alone a day out, no matter how enjoyable the company or how good the food he could expect to eat.

His thoughts scattered when his door chimed to announce a visitor. Closing his eyes tight he grimaced; someone was here before he had even got out of bed and he wished them away, feeling annoyed. But he was sure that the person on the other side of the door would not leave any time soon as he knew full well who it was that waited there. He glanced at his clock and realised that they were not an early morning visitor but rather that he has slept in. Pulling himself into a sitting position, he arranged the covers around his body, hiding his withered legs, before pressing his custom made button to open the door from where he sat.

The door opened to reveal John Sheppard, leaning with one shoulder on the door jam, his legs stretched diagonally across the doorway as if he had been standing there for hours. He had an I-just-knew-you-were-still-in-bed expression on his face and a smug grin tugged at his mouth. He had his usual Arennar day stubble shadowing his face, which he argued he liked because it "looks cool", never admitting that he just plain refused to shave on his day off. His hair was tousled to perfection and Rodney found it hard to see the scar in his hairline that showed the place where John lost more than a bit of skin in the crash. He pushed himself from the doorjamb with his shoulder and sauntered into the room like he owned it, casually flopping down into the chair at the bottom of Rodney's bed. Rodney simply rolled his eyes, knowing what would come next and so wriggled down into the bed for the duration.

"I see that look on your face McKay. I didn't get out of my bed this morning to just sit around Atlantis. What excuses did you think up today?"

Rodney set his jaw and stared at him defiantly, raising his chin in his usual I-have-done-nothing-of-the-sort expression. John always seemed to know exactly what was going on in Rodney's mind by merely looking at him, something that infuriated the scientist no end. John merely shook his head and groaned as he leaned forward and placed his elbows on his knees while staring at Rodney with eyes that say he wasn't going to argue about it.

"You have half an hour then I'm leaving. If I have to come back here and drag you out, so help me McKay, I will." He cocked his head forward, flicking his eyebrows up in his well known "Understood?" look.

Rodney shook his head crossly as John made his way back out of the door before stopping and looking back.

"Half an hour. Jumper bay." He said with finality then turned and left, whistling a light hearted tune as he wandered down the corridor.

The door closed, leaving Rodney staring at it for long minutes until that hint of a smile ghosted over his lips as it normally does when he decides that Arennar day might just be worth getting up for after all, then he hurried to get ready.

_TBC...Please leave a cookie comment! :D_


	2. 2

The PuddleJumper was parked about three hundred yards from the base of the mountain, at the very limit of the field on the nearest landing bay. John had apparently heard Rodney's silent pleas to park closer and not leave the Jumper where he normally parked it on the outskirts of the forest that surround Muo's Stargate. Making their way toward the busy main street, they saw a large Muoan waving at them eagerly from the doorway of his shop. He was a prime example of his species; large, muscular and powerful, his fur the deepest chestnut brown with red flecks on his face and long tail. A good friend of the two Lanteans, Bann was always very welcoming and looked forward to seeing them when they visited.

"Ah! Meetur John! Meetur Rodney! How is good that you come back, yes?" The large Muoan held out a furry hand towards John which he shook, smiling warmly.

"How's the business, Bann?" John asked nodding towards the impressive Muoan's shop.

"Yes! Yes! Business is good, yes! You need like something? I have things of many as Meetur John knows! Another dessert perhaps?" Bann smiled slyly at John, his bright green eyes twinkling with mischief.

"Maybe next time Bann, haven't quite got the taste of your Muo Tamfy out my mouth yet." John replied pulling a face as he remembered the taste of the thick black toffee like sweet.

"Your here friend not good to take warning Meetur Rodney, yes?" Bann laughed heartily and slapped Rodney on the shoulder, a playful gesture by all means, but a gesture that from a Muoan felt like a hard punch. "I told you, Muo Tamfy not for faint of heart!"

"Are the scoops flying today?" John asked, referring to the pair of small craft that shuttled customers to and from the plateau above.

"To the Gardens you are going today?" Bann asked, raising his impressively thick eyebrows. "Me thinks the weather be not too kind today. Shame that Jumper ship not able to take you atop."

"Yeah, well I've a hankering for a nice slice of Asam pie, Bann, and a little rain isn't going to put me off." John smiled.

"Ah, but small rain it wont be Meetur John. Seems to me that large rain more likely. Season change due me thinks, been long since had we a big storm and this one look like Dark Shift. Folks preparing." Bann motioned over his shoulder to the street behind where they could see that some of the traders were closing up their out shop displays while others were simply closing their shops completely.

"I'm sure the food will be worth it." John replied.

"Unfortunately, the scoops be still out of commission. Mayor keep say they be fixed next month, but next month comes never. But stop you by on way back down Meetur John, plenty Muo Tamfy for you!" Bann laughed, waving as John and Rodney made their way through the golden archway that began their ascent to the Gardens.

The path was not overly steep but it was long and winding and it wasn't long before Rodney's hands began to ache with the strain of pushing the wheelchair uphill. John kicked a stone ahead of them only to kick it farther along the path each time he reached it.

"Looks like Bann was right about the weather." He said, pointing towards the ever darkening sky.

It was now clearly evident that Muo's famously unpredictable weather was changing to what the Muoan's called the Dark Shift; erratic violent storms that would wreak havoc across the planet. Neither of them had ever experienced Dark Shift, but they had heard many stories about them from Bann. Wishing to get to the restaurant before the storm hit, they put their heads down and picked up the pace as the first gusts of wind blew across their faces.

No matter how many times they visited the Nulumn Restaurant, the beauty of the Gardens Plateau was never lost on them. From the clear running pools of the bluest water to the strange white trees clothed in golden leaves, it was little wonder that people from across the system visited Muo so often. When John opened the door to the restaurant, the delicious smell of food that came wafted out made their mouths instantly water. They were surprised to see only a handful of people within, most likely due to the warnings of Dark Shift moving in. An impeccably groomed Muoan welcomed them then showed them to a table looking out over the plateau before handing them each a menu that neither of them needed. John politely declined the menus and ordered a Gnator Muo'sh platter and a slice of Asam pie for each of them, thanking the waiter before resting his arms on the table.

"So you gonna to tell me what's been bothering you or am I gonna have to guess?" John asked.

Rodney shot him a look, surprised by the question.

"You've been moping around for a while now, burying yourself in your work, not speaking to anyone."

Raising one eyebrow, Rodney pointed to his mouth then made a snapping gesture with his hands sarcastically.

"Cut it out McKay, you know what I mean. Just because you can't talk, doesn't mean you can't speak and you know it."

He huffed out a deep breath as he toyed with his fork then shrugged his shoulders.

"You wanna talk?"

Rodney shook his head and tried to smile, not in the mood to discuss anything. It was with perfect timing that the waiter arrived with their food and Rodney was thankful when John seemed to forget his questions as the food was laid before him. Inhaling deeply, John let out a loud sigh as he lifted his cutlery. "Ah now this is what I'm talking about!" He said as he tucked straight into the steaming food.

While they ate, John spoke as Rodney tapped out responses on his tablet that he kept beside his dinner plate. They spoke about what they should watch at the next movie night, or about their their friends and what they had been doing. But as always, whenever John brought up anything about missions he had been on, Rodney felt a tug of sadness at not being able to join in the offworld missions with John and the team. Not once had he ever dissuaded John from talking about missions, he enjoyed hearing about what was happening out with Atlantis, but conversations like that were only a reminder of what he had lost. Given that Rodney's mood of late had been rather low, as John spoke about his most recent mission, Rodney looked at his plate absentmindedly while playing with his food until John stopped speaking. They ate on in silence, the awkwardness that fell between them almost palpable and Rodney was aware of John stealing worried glances towards him. He huffed and put his cutlery down then typed words out on his tablet.

_Stop staring at me and enjoy your meal._

"What? I'm worried about you, Rodney."

_There is nothing to worry about, I'm fine._

"Really? So the tantrum you had in the lab yesterday was fine. The outburst you had in Woolsey's office last week was fine, and the fact that you rarely speak to anyone anymore is just peachy, yeah?"

_I did not have a tantrum! If that idiot had just did what I told him..._

"You had a tantrum and you know it. I just need to know that you are okay."

Rodney stared at him for a few seconds, seeing the worry in his eyes. He could always trust John to see right through him and he loved him just for being able to still care despite Rodney's ability to push people away.

_I'm fine okay. I have my down days sure, everyone does._

"Yeah, but you seem to have had more down days that up ones recently."

_I know what you're thinking, but you can stop worrying. I'm not nearly as depressed as I was back then, and even though I appreciate your concern, it is obviously not warranted.  
_

John stared at him as if trying to read his mind before stuffing another forkful of food in his mouth.

"Okay, fine. But I'm here if you ever need to talk, you know that, right?"

_I know and I truly appreciate it. Now, can I get on with my meal before it gets cold?_

Before they even had the chance to have one more bite, the storm that they had seen developing finally hit the region and a massive thunderclap shook the transparent roof above them. The restaurant darkened significantly as the storm quickly escalated with gale force winds and rain so heavy that it had already began flooding the Plateau. The white trees outside shed their golden leaves with the ferocity of the gale winds and they looked like strange skeletal remains as they were blown about in the relentless onslaught.

The Muoan who had shown them to their table started to strike a small gong at the far end of the restaurant before clearing his throat to speak with a loud growling voice.

"Afraid me having to ask that people be leaving. Large storm be coming on us now and for safety of peoples, best to home be before full Dark Shift, yes? Restaurant it closing and partial credit given upon leaving."

John and Rodney were the last out as the other people in the restaurant bustled to leave as quickly as they could. With their card stamped with credit for free Asam pie the next time they visited, they both ventured out into the heavy rain and sweeping gales that signaled a miserable end to their Arennar day.

The heavy rain pelted relentlessly upon their heads as they made their way back down the mountainside on the now treacherous path. The five feet wide track was currently awash with running water making the normally hard baked mud path a slick and sticky quagmire. The fencing that traced the edge of the path, an apparent barrier of safety on the ledge, did little to make them feel any safer as some of the panels were shook loose by the wind and thrown into the air. Rodney tried to keep away from both the inner and outer edges of the path, as both were teeming with the runoff from the Gardens above and he huffed as he tried to hurry along the path, wanting nothing better than to get back to the Jumper and out of this storm.

 _If I'd stayed in bed I wouldn't be caked head to toe in mud. And I would be dry!_ He thought sourly as the rain soaked through his pants. The mud was squelching beneath his wheels and soon his gloves looked like they would only be fit for the trash by the time they got home. His hands occasionally slipped off the wheel rim, infuriatingly halting his progress, but still he refused to allow John to push him. In the two years since his wheelchair arrived on Atlantis allowing him to finally get around under his own steam, Rodney had only permitted someone to push his chair once and that had been when they were taking it away for a service. John would never cross that line and take control of his friends chair, no matter how much he wanted too. It was freezing cold and the miserable look that twisted his face managed to convey just the right amount of loathing and wretchedness for their situation as they slowly made their way down the treacherous path back to the Jumper.

 _Let's go to Muo he said. Grab some lunch, it'll be fun he said. Well this is as much fun as being entertained by a Doranth belly dancer._ Rodney thought heatedly.

He quickly admonished himself for thinking that way, knowing that John had given up more than enough of his time in the past couple of years in order to ensure that he was still kept part of the team, continuing to do so long after his apparent survivors guilt should have worn off. And although he was currently soaking through to the short and curlies, Rodney never appreciated John more. But it was beginning to get harder to appreciate this particular Arennar day, no matter how many good intentions had been poured into it. The wheelchair got progressively harder to push and more than once Rodney mentally cursed when his hands failed to grip the wheel rim and slid off forcefully instead.

"Come on McKay, no one will ever know I pushed the damn chair." John moaned loudly over the din of the rain as he trudged beside him, kicking up sprays of dirty water and mud with his feet.

Rodney shot him a long and wavering look that said more than his now silent words ever could, leaving John to shake his head as he continued down the rain churned path. The storm intensified and became a deafening roar which silenced almost everything else. Eventually the wheelchair became so bogged down that he found it almost impossible to move on his own. He slapped the wheels in frustration as water continued to pour down his face and drip annoyingly off the end his nose and chin. John kept on walking, passing McKay while shaking his head making it clear he was pissed, but even though McKay couldn't blame him for being so, he wasn't about to give in and make this journey any easier on either of them. McKay was pissed too, but he dared not show it in case he lost all chances of Arennar completely. Not that he thought John would call a halt to their outings, but he really didn't want to push the issue with him at the moment as by the hunch of his shoulders he was sure that John might just leave him there given it was his own stubbornness that was making the journey back harder than it ought to be.

He stared at the back of John's head, wishing he could shout something annoying at him while hating the fact that he couldn't. Taking off one of his mucky gloves to throw at John, he stopped when he noticed a movement above them. A deluge of mud began to pour over the upper ledge, a mudslide coming down from the Gardens above swiftly carrying large boulders with it. John continued walking, his head down between his hunched shoulders, completely unaware of the danger that he was walking beneath. A hoarse cry emitted unbidden from Rodney's throat and at the worst possible moment, John stopped and turned to look back only to be struck on the side of the head by one of the plummeting rocks. Rodney saw John's legs collapsed beneath him and he fell into the path of the now thick and fast mudslide which began to carry his limp body dangerously close to the eroding edge of their path. By some saving grace, John's body lodged against a lone fence post and without thinking, Rodney unbuckled his safety belt then threw himself out of his chair. He began to crawl towards the stricken pilot whose legs were being pushed slowly over the edge and Rodney knew that any second now, John would go over and be lost. He pulled himself laboriously through the wet mud and grime towards John, his fingers finding little purchase on the slimy path. All the could think about was how close he was to losing John and it spurred him forward.

The rain poured cold and hard on his back as he slipped over the path on his stomach, slime coating almost every inch of him. He was taken by the swell of the mudslide and pushed inexorably towards John, sure that he was going to push them both over the edge, but he used everything he had to hook his arm around the post and anchor himself, grabbing hold of John just as his legs slipped over the edge and pulled him down. Rodney tried to heave him back up as the mud and water poured relentlessly over John's unconscious form, but he could not budge him even an inch. His grip loosened as John's bogged down weight pulled at his shoulders and he cried out in pain when one of them popped. He nearly let go of John in that moment of pain and panic, his fingers slipping on the now slick material of his sleeve, making him call out John's name in fear without consciously thinking to. The mudslide made John's weight increase as it bogged him down and Rodney realised that his weight might just be enough to snap the now creaking fence post and pull them both over the edge. His arms, strong and powerful from pushing his wheelchair over many different terrains, managed to haul John closer in an increased effort to save them both, managing to secure a better hold on his friend.

He lay there on his stomach as the torrent of filth and detritus increased and continued to pour over them both. He dared not let go or move now lest they both be swept away. It was then that he heard the groan from beneath him and he opened the eyes he had squeezed shut, to looked down to see the shocked and dazed eyes of John Sheppard who was struggling to keep his face out of the mess that poured down onto him. The side of his head was matted with blood and mud and Rodney could see that although he was awake he was far from fully conscious. He sucked in deep breaths as he maneuvered John's out-turned weight to face him and John automatically grabbed for a hold on the ledge while Rodney adjusted his position to divert most of the falling mud and debris from John's face. Rodney gestured with his head for John to pull himself up but the dazed pilot shook his head, his dull eyes partially closed and then dared to let go of the ledge and grab for the communicator that had long been dislodged from his ear. The movement caused Rodney's left hand to lose grip of John which made his body swing wildly and the fence post creak and groan loudly under the shifting weight. Water and mud poured over John who began to panic as he was slowly suffocated by the steady flow, his body flailing about over the open space. Rodney frantically clawed at John's clothes to try and secure his second hold again, his fingers finally digging painfully into John's shoulder and the man reacted with a furious roar. Their eyes locked and Rodney ignored the anger in his friends stare as he grit his teeth and shook slime from his face. Drawing in short breaths he tried to speak, but the only sounds he could make were more like gasps than words. The anger in John's eyes faded as they widened in anticipation, seeing what Rodney was attempting to do. Mouthing silently, Rodney forced air through his vocal chords, willing the words to come and soon he was making sounds that encouraged him to try harder. Soft words formed and fell from his mouth that couldn't be heard over the noise of the storm so Rodney gasped another deep breath then forced it out in a loud, rough shout.

"Trust me John! Climb up!"

The words galvanized John into doing as Rodney asked and he smiled up at him with mud caked face that seemed to have a look of pride on it. Rodney felt the strain in his back and shoulders increase as John used his body like a rope and began to haul himself clear of the chasm. McKay grunted under the pressure that popped his joints rhythmically, gritting his teeth against the waves of resultant pain. Managing to pull himself over the slippery edge on the third attempt, John landed like a heap on the path, breathing hard with relief, then grabbed Rodney's arm and pulled him from the edge and away from the mudslide.

"Thanks." he gasped. "I owe you one."

Rodney turned gingerly onto his back, groaning as it cracked painfully.

"Owe...me...nothing." He gasped through a clenched jaw as he massaged his sore shoulder, closing his eyes. "I...owe you...much more."

A shadow loomed over him and he opened his eyes to find John hunkered beside him, offering his hand to help. Taking John's hand, he allowed the man to pull him into a sitting position but Rodney was shocked when John then suddenly pulled him up and onto his feet then over into his wheelchair in one fluid movement. He didn't even have the energy to be angry at John as he watched the man stagger before sitting back down in the mud, rubbing his pained head. They sat there a while in shocked silence, getting thoroughly soaked as they thought about what had just happened. John grunted with irritation as he pulled drying muck from his now less than perfect hair, wincing as it tugged painfully at his recent head injury.

"Let's get out of here." He shouted, getting to his feet and wiping his hands on his BDU's in a futile attempt to clean them. "I need a hot shower."

Rodney just nodded, too tired and sore to try speaking again. Every inch of him hurt, old injuries and new and a heavy fatigue had set in both mentally and physically. He wished that he had brought his painkillers but they were back at the Jumper and it didn't look like they were making it back any time soon until John walked behind his chair and started to push it awkwardly down the path.

"St..stop!" Rodney gasped as he squirmed in his seat angrily, "Don't!"

John stopped the chair and leaned forward until his head was next to Rodney's.

"Now you, trust me." He said in that low but no nonsense voice he reserved especially for a snarky Mckay. Rodney's shoulders slumped in acceptance and so he tried to enjoy the less than pleasant ride back to the Jumper. It seemed a little easier for John than it had been for him to push the thing, but the going was still rather tough until John decided that it would be better to turn the chair and haul it down backwards.

After what felt like an eternity, they finally made it back down the mountain and crossed the now deserted main street. Even Bann was no where to be seen, finally giving in and shutting up shop. The sky continued to darken as the storm intensified and the name for the weather phenomenon seemed perfectly appropriate as it was almost completely dark by the time they managed to reach the Jumper. The hatch closed behind them and John reached for a canteen of water that he had tucked behind his seat, swallowing the clean cool water before offering some to Rodney, who refused and stripped off a mud caked shirt to the t-shirt underneath which was just as filthy. With the ship powered up, John turned to look at Rodney with a boyish grin on his face that Rodney ignored as he slipped into his seat and buckled up.

"You know, it's good to hear your voice again McKay." John said as he looked forward and raised the ship from the soaking ground.

Rodney smiled. "At least I now know it's not...permanent." His voice was hoarse, little more than a whisper and despite feeling awkward and self conscious, he was happy. "But it means you have to put up with my rants again."

John chuckled and looked back to him, merriment in his eyes. "Your rants never stopped Rodney, they just changed in the way they were communicated." He said with a laugh. "Anyway, it's not been much fun arguing with you, I've missed your witty comebacks."

"Har har." Rodney could not help but smile, but his throat was aching and his head felt heavy and sore. "Do you...mind if I shut up now...and sleep?" He asked, rubbing his forehead.

"Knock yourself out." John replied with a smile, "But not litere..."

But Rodney was already asleep, his eyes closed firmly as the purring of his snore increased, making John smile contentedly. It didn't really surprise him that Rodney did not speak the entire way home, but he found it a very lonely journey, one that he was not used to now and he found himself wanting to hear Rodney's rambling dreams playing out as he took them back to Atlantis. But with the words spoken in panic, things had changed for Rodney, and for John.

But John was nowhere near aware of just how different things would become.

_TBC...please feed me! :D_


	3. 3

Rodney was more than willing to tell anyone who would listen about what had happened on Muo the week before. In fact, pretty much everyone on Atlantis had heard the story of the heroic actions that saved John Sheppard's life, mostly because Rodney told everyone with his newly regained voice. In the six days since the happenings on Muo, there was a significant return to his old self; people commented on how the old McKay was back. Self assured, reliable McKay, able to fully communicate his views and ideas as well as reprimand and argue his point perfectly clear.

Even though he wheeled about Atlantis with a new found confidence, John was convinced that all may not be as it seemed. He was sure that he was beginning to see familiar cracks in his friends composure, cracks that made John feel the need to intervene. While most people felt that Rodney was an open book; easy to read and understand, John was more aware than most that Rodney had long ago created a mask to hide behind, a mask that rarely slipped. He wore his heart on his sleeve but managed to hide himself from everyone, except John. Since the accident, the two had become very close friends, like two inseparable brothers and this gave them both the unique ability to read each other almost perfectly.

John had seen it before, the undoing of the man who strove to hide any and all weaknesses that he had from others, the same man who had ended up using a disability aid as a weapon against anyone who tried to get close to him. He had managed to convince everyone that he was perfectly adjusted to his predicament and even though his newly regained speech might have made the scene that little bit more believable, John saw that things were not as they seemed behind those blue eyes, as he had suspected for some time now. In fact, he had already attempted to broach the subject on Muo, to no real ends.

He had began to notice the darkness in the eyes of his friend some time ago and the fact that Rodney was beginning to withdraw from human contact once more, had John on alert. He was also becoming distant and secretive while going through the motions to make everything appear normal. Perhaps the fact that he was speaking again bolstered the cheerful facade and was the reason that no one else seemed to have noticed or were worried.

But he had witnessed Rodney's descent into hell before and had managed to help his friend through it twice; once after his breakup with Jennifer Keller, and the second more catastrophic time, after the crash. He had went to such great lengths to drag Rodney from that particular depression that he had no intentions of allowing him to fall so far again.

The last time that he had to pick up the pieces of a McKay meltdown, he had been lucky to pull the man back from the brink of utter destruction. John had tried to understand how he had failed to see the extent of Rodney's mental anguish back then. He knew he had no excuse, he'd seen the cracks appearing, just not soon enough and Rodney had descended far into his own hell long before John had realised that something was wrong. So he made a promise to himself as well as a silent one to Rodney; that he would watch out for those tell tale signs in the future and act on them quicker than before. What he was seeing now was similar to what he had witnessed in the weeks following his break up with Jennifer Keller.

Months before the crash that had nearly killed them both, Atlantis had returned to the Pegasus Galaxy from Earth with Carson Beckett back in command of the medical team. While Atlantis had been grounded, Jennifer had received news of her fathers failing health and had decided to stay on Earth to care for him, giving up her chance to see the Pegasus Galaxy again. She never once asked Rodney to stay behind with her, knowing full well that the scientists love for the city and Pegasus was as great as his love for her. But he surprised her when he turned up at her flat while she was packing her things to move in with her father, adamant that he was staying behind to be with and support her. She knew that he would never be happy and with all the will that she possessed, she broke his heart with clichés such as "It's for the best", and "It would never work out." and finally, "I don't love you the way you love me." An anger exploded in Rodney that John had never seen before and the man went all out to prove that the woman he had considered to be the love of his life, had in fact been nothing more than a very long casual fling and that she meant nothing to him, nor him to her. Despite this, after the crash and when John was well enough to be discharged from the hospital, his first thought was to contact Jennifer to let her know how ill Rodney was. She had tried to make arrangements to get back to Atlantis and be by Rodney's side, but through things not in her control, she was unable to return. It had been Jennifer that arranged the fitting and making of the custom wheelchair which John guessed was as much for her own peace of mind as for Rodney's comfort. It was the last that John ever heard from her. Rodney knew of course where the chair had come from and John wondered more than once if this was part of the reason why he hated the damned thing so much. In some twisted way, the wheelchair was a constant reminder not only of his disability, but of the woman that he had lost.

His moods at that time had been explosive and it had been hard for anyone to spend any length of time with him before he fired up over something trivial and blasted them with a barrage of insults which saw them hurriedly leaving to rant on his own. He was self destructive, would not eat and lived on coffee almost entirely as he threw himself into his work. More than once John had found him slumped at his desk, sweat pouring from him as his blood sugar plummeted.

Then again, after he woke from his coma and found that he would be chair bound, his mood had dropped like a nuclear bomb and the same devastation occurred in his mind. Unable to speak his mind or his fears, Rodney took to disappearing, withdrawing from human contact and falling down into a desperate spiral to a hell that he was unable to drag himself from. Looking back, John saw the desperation in him; the over working and the attitude that he fought to hide, but he had seen it too late. It had taken John many weeks to bring Rodney back from the brink of despair. He had vowed to do everything in his power to help Rodney never fall so low again, which was why he was so worried now. The signs were showing again, it was time for John to act before Rodney fell once more.

This worry was the reason why he had waited so long in the mess hall for their prearranged lunch break, so that he could try and figure out what was wrong and put it out there, that should Rodney need anything, he only had to ask. He had been waiting almost forty five minutes, had already eaten his lunch and was finishing his third cup of coffee when he decided to go looking for McKay, since he was not even answering his hails. He cleared away his tray and walked out of the mess hall, only to be hit by a speeding wheelchair that took his legs forcefully from beneath him. Rodney was wide eyed and apologetic, but John was hardly in the mood for his apology, given that he had landed hard on his ass on the floor.

"What the hell McKay?!"

"Sorry...John..."

John went to say more but stopped when he noticed the slight shake of Rodney's hands. Sweat was beaded on his forehead and his eyes had a strange unfocussed look, as if he couldn't really see John at all and he knew immediately that Rodney's blood sugar was plummeting. He got quickly to his feet and walked back into the mess hall to have a late lunch with him, if only to make sure that he ate something substantial. One sugary drink later and Rodney was getting stuck into his lunch as if he had not eaten for days.

"I ...I just lost track of time." He said between mouthfuls of crammed food, the shaking in his hands diminishing. "When I realised the time I got here as quickly as I could."

"Yeah, I noticed." John said wryly. "You know that you should eat regularly, what the hell are you playing at? In fact, what's going on with you? You're not eating properly, you disappear for hours on end and I'm beginning to think that you're trying to avoid me." The direct approach, John decided, was always kinder to McKay in the long run.

Rodney placed the fork he was holding back onto the plate as he chewed what was left in his mouth. His eyes had darkened, his eyebrows lowered and a slight tick had started pulling at the left side of his mouth, a dead give away that something wasn't quite right. John knew all of Rodney's tells.

"Nothing is wrong. I'm perfectly fine." He said as he raised his mug of coffee.

"Bull crap. You're not fine and you know it."

"I just need some space." he said as he dabbed at his mouth with a napkin before throwing it onto the cleared plate. "As a matter of fact, I need some space right now." He pushed his plate away and tugged at the wheels of his chair, pulling away from the table and from John.

John shot a hand out as Rodney passed, laying it gently but firmly on his arm.

"Rodney..."

"Get, your hand, off me."

John was surprised by the words and the tone in which they were spoken, but what hurt the most was the hateful look in his eyes. The look made him snatch his hand away, not quite sure what the man would do should he keep it there any longer.

"I..."

"Don't John, just...just leave me alone."

They regarded each other, both knowing what the other was thinking having been in the same situation before. Rodney had tried to push John away many times, but never in such a manner as this.

"I thought we could go back to Muo and cash in on that credit for Asam pie tomorrow. It's Arennar day after all." John said, confused and at a loss as to what else to say.

"Like I could forget." Rodney said as he wheeled himself out of the mess hall.

Those four words alone verified to John that he had every right to be concerned; Rodney always turned a good thing into a weapon when he was angry at something. He decided that it could not wait until tomorrow, knew that if he left it, Rodney would fester in his anger. Leaving the lunch trays on the table, he ran after him, eventually catching up as Rodney entered his room.

"Right," John said as he squeezed by the closing door into the room. "I wanna know what the hell is going on, and don't tell me you are fine, 'cause I don't believe you."

"Get out! How dare you barge in here uninvited?!" McKay spat furiously.

"You've been here before Rodney. We've, been here before. What's wrong with you?"

Rodney's eyes darted around the room while his hands fidgeted as his anger dissipated and was replaced with nervousness.

"It's nothing. I've been doing some important research that's..."

"Cut the bull, McKay. What's really going on?" John sat himself on the bed in front of Rodney, waiting on an answer.

McKay stared back for as long as he could stand it but in the end John won out and Rodney sighed in defeat.

"I've been thinking about something."

"You don't say..."

"Yes, well, it's all very good for you, Teyla and Ronon to go off gallivanting with Radek while I sit in Atlantis working on the mundane and tedious." He spat out Radek's name viciously, never realizing how bitter he sounded.

"Rodney..."

"Well I'm going to change that. I'm going to change everything back." Rodney said, suddenly unable to look at John's unwavering gaze.

"I thought we'd been through this, you're still a vital part of my team and always will be whether you are here or not! You can't change this Rodney, though God knows if I could I would and you know that."

"I can and I will change it. Do you remember the ascension lab, the one that rewrote my DNA a few years back?"

"Yeah, how could I forget."

"I've been thinking about it for a while now, more so since we got back from Muo. It struck me that my inability to speak was merely a state of mind, which reminded me that ascending was also a state of mind, which in turn made me remember the Ascension machine. When I triggered it before, the whole process was familiar to me, I knew that I had seen something similar before but had no idea where, probably because my mind was filled with so many other things at the time. A few days ago it hit me where I had seen it, or at least a modified version of it." He said excitedly reaching for his tablet from the ever present bag that hung on the back of his chair. Lifting the tablet, he beckoned John closer as he flicked through files. John read the screen, his eyes widening as he recognised what Rodney was showing him.

"A sarcophagus?" He asked incredulously.

"Yes! The Goaul'd stole much of their technology from different races, modifying them to their own needs. I knew that the sarcophagus must have originated somewhere highly technological, but it never crossed my mind until now that it originated in the Pegasus Galaxy!"

"Are you trying to tell me that the Goaul'd stole their idea from the ascension machine?"

"Think about it. The ascension machine fixes and alters the body for ascension. The sarcophagus is merely a modified ascension machine! Imagine what this could do for people, for me!"

John's earlier anger at being stood up and run over dissipated as he watched Rodney's animated explanation of why he had been spending so much time alone recently. John could almost see the old Rodney, the before-the-crash Rodney whose long winded explanations had been missed by all in the past two years. But the more he spoke, the more agitated and upset he became as his explanation came to the conclusion that John found he had been expecting.

"I can't live like this any longer, John. If there is even a...chance..." He fell silent, his head lowered, staring at the tablet on his lap. "You nearly died the last week and all I could do was hold onto you, what use is that?"

And there it was, the explanation for the recent melancholy that he had seen in Rodney's eyes. The room filled with an uneasy silence as John found himself unsure of what to say. He had helped Rodney through this before, but there was something more urgent than usual in his need to walk again. It was quite clear to John now as he looked at those openly sad eyes that Rodney was heading towards a fall similar to the ones he had witnessed in the past. It actually hurt to think that Rodney felt so little of himself, that he even failed to acknowledge that he had in fact saved John's life that day. He stared at him for long moments, trying to find the words to soothe him and failed, so decided instead to try and steer the conversation in a different direction.

"I seem to remember there being a problem with those damned coffins."

Rodney's shoulders drooped and he sighed exasperatedly. "Don't you think that I have taken that into consideration?" He said grumpily, more upset that John was not as excited as he was at the prospect of the machine fixing his broken, useless limbs. "I am currently rewriting some of the code so that it leaves my mind alone."

"But it nearly killed you!" John could not help but have serious doubts about using the machine again.

"It won't this time." Rodney said angrily through gritted teeth while breathing quickly, his body shaking with anger and frustration. As if his vocal chords were starting to fail again, he seemed unable to speak without gasping out the words he was saying and the more upset and anxious he became, the worse the impediment became.

"I would rather...take the chance...of it nearly killing me...than remain...in this chair in pain...any longer." Rodney smashed a fisted hand into the arm of the wheelchair and nearly launched his tablet across the room with the other.

"Whoa whoa, let's just settle back down there." John said gently as he lowered Rodney's raised hand.

Rodney sighed miserably as he placed the tablet back on his lap and played his fingers over its display. As the panic left him, he managed to get his breathing back under control and found it easier to speak again.

"I just can't go on living here like this. You have no idea what it is like every day to wake up in agony and know that the pain will never end and that it only gets worse when you sit in a chair that you hate with every fibre of your being, all damned day. If I don't try this, or if this doesn't work, I already have my transfer request for Earth written up. So either help me...or lose me."

"You're hitting me with an ultimatum?"

Rodney shrugged and set his jaw in the familiar way that John had seen before, meaning that he did not intend to change his mind any time soon, for anyone. John was angry at Rodney, but more so with himself for letting it get this far without doing anything. He remembered what happened the last time this machine was fired up, so vividly that it shocked him silent as images filled his mind; Rodney as he rocked violently in seizure on his bed, Rodney falling to the floor screaming in agony. Twisting, crying, dying. He couldn't watch that happen again, couldn't take the chance of losing him.

"Well, I would rather lose you to Earth, than lose you forever." He said, his voice almost a whisper, knowing how much the statement would hurt Rodney.

"But..."

"I can't believe that you care so little about yourself, or me for that matter, to even want to risk this! Have I ever, ever made you feel any less of a person? Have I ever made you feel left out?" John's own anger and hurt fueled his speech and while one part of him wanted to shut up, his anger overruled all sense and he barged on regardless. "You would rather take the chance with your life with no regard to how it could effect others, effect me? I knew you were selfish McKay, but this?"

"Just wait a minute..."

"No you wait a damned minute! I can't let you take the chance of dying." he said getting to his feet, trying to ignore the dark look that he saw passing over McKay's face.

"What? I..."

"I've said all I'm gonna on the matter."

As he turned and walked away from Rodney, he heard the unmistakable sound of weeping and although his heart stalled in his chest, he continued walking towards the door. He never realised just how damned depressed Rodney really was. Even though he knew that he was a master of creating the illusion of normality, John suddenly felt like a massive fraud, for how could he be a friend and not see any of this in the eyes of his closest friend? He had failed Rodney and continued to fail him as he walked out the door and let it close behind him, leaving the chair bound scientist alone in his misery.

John walked a few paces down the empty corridor before the enormity of it hit him and he stopped walking to lean against the wall, his stomach churning and hating himself. He had the awful feeling that he had only made things worse, that his point blank refusal to have any part of what Rodney intended was an insult to their friendship. But he was unable to see the merit of dying if things went wrong as he was sure they would, it was just too risky to chance. He silently chastised himself for being so heartless in his choice of words, but he felt that sometimes, being blunt with McKay was the best action, even though it left them both feeling terrible.

Sighing, he pushed off from the wall and headed to the gym, something that he often did whenever his mind was in conflict. He hoped that he could come up with a better way to help Rodney, while praying that perhaps Rodney would already have taken heed of his words.

TBC... Leave me cookies! :D


	4. 4

John kicked at a small scrunched up empty packet of peanuts that he had thrown across the room just moments before he got to his feet. He took a languid stroll around the Jumper bay for the fourth time in the past half hour, frequently hailing Rodney who didn't even have the decency to answer him. He nodded acknowledgement to a team who passed on their way to leave on a mission and his mood quickly went downhill as he finally accepted that he had been stood up. Kicking the peanut packet out into the corridor, he hoped to see McKay rushing towards him with an apologetic look upon his face, but he didn't. He found it hard to believe that Rodney would have forgotten or slept in as he had spoken with him at suppertime and reminded him of their morning jaunt. Rodney had said that he was looking forward to it, went as far as to say he was eager to speak to Bann properly for the first time in their long friendship. He even conceded that his whole idea concerning the ascension machine had been a simple flight of fancy that John had every right to be worried about, and that it had gotten him excited until the obvious had been pointed out to him. He apologized for his earlier anger and then had left for bed, saying that he would see John in the morning. Though John was sure of the sincerity of his words, the fact that he once again found himself waiting on the tardy scientist, made him begin to worry. He kicked the empty packet harder and watched as it bounced off the leg of a small Athosian who had just turned the corner, accompanied by a towering Satedan.

"Nice shot." Ronon growled, looking anything but impressed.

"Yes, very." Teyla smiled as she picked the packet up and disposed of it in her pocket. "I thought that you and Rodney would have left by now."

"Yeah, seems Rodney has other ideas."

"Perhaps he has slept in?"

"Who knows? You joining us for lunch?"

"I'm afraid we are to meet with and escort the mayor of Taui back to Atlantis for a meeting with Mr Woolsey, although I would much prefer to share a nice meal with you all."

"Maybe next time."

"I look forward to it."

Throughout the short conversation Ronon merely stared darkly at John, his jaw clenched tightly. Only now that there was a lull in the conversation, did the Satedan speak.

"Keep an eye on him." He said, stared pointedly, then walked to the Jumper bay.

Teyla raised an eyebrow and sighed as she said goodbye to John and hurried to catch up with Ronon whose long stride had already carried him to the back of their Jumper.

The warning was as expected as it was ominous. John was not the only one who blamed Rodney's injuries and resultant state on himself, Ronon did also. Both men had always felt it was their responsibility to protect Rodney from himself and any situation that arose which might cause him harm. Both John and Ronon had an unspoken agreement on this matter and while Rodney was aware of them looking out for him, he had very little idea of the lengths they had gone to protect him in the past. The fact was, Ronon felt that John had dropped the ball when they had crashed and while John agreed that the entire situation was his fault, he never got used to Ronon's blame and coldness. Teyla continually reminded them both that it was the wraith who was to blame, for all the good it did. She had tried her best to keep the teams spirit alive, but she knew she was failing miserably and felt frustrated with the situation. It wasn't the first time that she had sat them both down to discuss the problem only to watch them quietly stare at the walls or their feet, anywhere but at each other. Eventually she had come to terms with the fact that John and Ronon had become just as distant as John and Rodney had become close. They still worked effectively together, but there was a slight bitterness to Ronon's eyes when they spoke, which now, was pretty much never.

But Ronon's warning proved that he had the same concerns as John, otherwise he wouldn't have said anything to him at all, so at least John knew he wasn't imagining things. He watched as the two disappeared inside the Jumper then, deciding that Teyla was probably right, he left to go find Rodney. But he wasn't in his room, the mess hall or his lab and a sinking feeling in the pit of John's stomach grew, prompting him to call on Chuck to locate Rodney.

"Scan indicates that Doctor McKay is in the lower level, umm, he appears to be in the ascension lab, Sir." Chuck answered, confirming John's fears.

Thanking Chuck, he hurried down the corridor towards the transporter as fast as he could. His feeling of unease increased as he thought about what he might find when he got there, feverently hoping that he was wrong. Barely having time to stop, he ran into the transporter and felt the warm tug in the centre of his being as it transferred him to one of the lower levels of Atlantis.

The corridors had long been pumped dry of flood water, but it had been left with a strong musty damp smell, ingrained in the walls and floors despite the best efforts to clean them. Normally this level was in darkness, powered down in order to conserve energy, but there was dim lighting the length of the corridor where someone had overridden the commands. John's stomach churned as the ascension lab door opened, but he was relieved to find Rodney sitting on the edge of his wheelchair, staring up at a screen displaying reams of ghostly ancient. His arrival went unnoticed as Rodney continued to stare at the screen while muttering to himself. His tablet was connected to the console in front of him and his fingers danced over it with well practiced ease. It wasn't until John exaggeratedly cleared his throat that Rodney jumped in fright, nearly dropping his tablet as he twisted in the chair to see who stood behind him.

"What...? John? What are...you...? Oh." He finished sheepishly, his grip tightening on the tablet while pulling it closer to his chest, hiding the screen.

"Yeah, _oh_. You mind telling me why you're down here while I'm making my ass square waiting for you in the Jumper bay?" John snapped angrily, unimpressed by Rodney's guilty look.

"Huh. Is that the time?" Rodney said as he took a quick uninterested look at the watch on his wrist.

"Yeah McKay, that's the time. What the hell are you doing down here? After everything that we discussed yesterday?!" John asked.

Rodney's expression changed from guilt to a look of weary annoyance as he placed the tablet on the ground and unbuckled his seatbelt. "I am simply having a look. I'm not planning on doing anything, merely satisfying my curiosity." He pushed himself from the wheelchair and eased down onto the platform the ascension machine sat on.

"Curiosity? This goes _way_ beyond curiosity." John replied, gesturing to the set up around the platform. Wires and cables lay all around, running between the console and a laptop tucked beneath it. There was other equipment strewn everywhere and now Rodney sat amongst it all, staring up at John as if it was quite normal.

"I'm only wanting to see if it had actually been a viable option. That's all."

"And that's taken what? All morning? All night?" John asked, pretty sure of the answer as there was a considerable amount of energy bar wrappers lying around.

"I already told you I lost track of time. I never got to look at it properly the last time, it really is quite fascinating how much..."

"Yeah, I'm sure it's all very fascinating, but this is the second time that you've kept me waiting and I sure would like to get to Muo before Christmas."

"Well go then, no one's stopping you!" Rodney shouted, his face turning red with anger as his nostrils flared.

John saw the madness in Rodney's eyes, a slip of his self control showing the chaos beneath the near perfect veneer of normality. Gritting his teeth, Rodney lay himself onto his back then reached up into the bowels of the console and then ignored John who stood in mute anger watching him. For the first time in a long time, John didn't care what Rodney did. He suddenly found himself sick and tired of the mans outbursts and crazy ideas, sick to the teeth of arguing and playing the nice guy. As he watched Rodney playing around with cables and crystals, he just wanted to get out of there and clear his head. He knew his anger stemmed almost entirely from his inability to make Rodney see sense, but there was only so many times a person could give advice and have it thrown back in their face.

"Tell you what McKay, do what the hell you like. I'm outta here." Not even waiting on a reply, he spun on his heels and walked towards the door with the intent of leaving.

Then the inevitable happened, and it happened with such speed that later John would question whether or not he would have been able to stop it had he not walked away. Hearing the whirring sound of machinery starting up, he turned back to see Rodney struggling beneath the console.

"Oh God...John? JOHN!" Rodney's fear filled voice told him in a gut wrenching instant that Rodney had activated the ascension machine and wether it had been deliberate or not, he was sure that he wouldn't reach him in time. "John?! Help! I can't get out!"

He ran back towards the scared man, throwing the wheelchair to the side in order to grab him and pull him free. But something was evidently wrong as the console crackled and fizzed, sending an intense shower of sparks over a struggling Rodney who tried in vain to remove himself from the platform. As John reached to take hold of Rodney's legs, a bolt of electricity shot from the console and threw him backwards to land a few feet away. He shakily got back to his feet and a roar tore from his throat when he saw the machine release a powerful bright blue beam down onto the platform. When the machine had first been discovered and had activated, it had snaked a bright light around Rodney's body and removed itself moments later in a graceful and gentle way. But there was nothing graceful or gentle about it this time as the violent force of power that burst from the ceiling encompassed Rodney's entire body in what looked like blue flames that made him scream and writhe in agony.

Staggering back to the platform, John reached and grabbed desperately for the screaming scientist, but every time he tried to even place a hand on him, the eerie blue flames would sear his skin. With every failed attempt, his hands and arms became more burned and blistered but he couldn't stand back and do nothing as Rodney burned. Trying a different approach he kicked at the console in an attempt to stop the machine, but he soon became incapacitated by a loud vibrating hum that filled the room as it grew quickly in intensity until John had to clamp his hands over his ears. His hands did little to keep the noise out as the sound grew so loud as to shake his bones, his knees gave while a pain in his head increased. Thrashing on the ground, it felt as if his entire body was vibrating with the ear splitting sound and he screamed when the pressure became so much that it felt as if his head would explode. Even though the noise filled his entire being, he continued to hear Rodney's shrieking screams as he suffered within the blue flames. Twisting, he managed to turn his head towards the platform and he could see Rodney twitching and jerking until he convulsed so violently that it seemed as if he was going to break in two. His screaming stopped as his eyes flew wide open, his mouth twisted in a silent scream and John attempted to push through his own pain to try and reach him, but the sound interfered with his body mechanics and he found that he could do no more than weakly pull himself into a tight ball.

As abruptly as it had began, the noise stopped as the blue beam vanished, leaving both men gasping and shaking. Tendrils of smoke rose lazily from Rodney's clothes though the material was neither scorched or burned. His body continued to tremble, muscles contracting and relaxing uncontrollably, his head shaking back and forth, yet he was surprisingly uninjured, unlike John. There were no burns or blisters on Rodney's skin and John stared in confusion, his mind addled by pain and shock. He was unable to think straight or coordinate his body to move towards Rodney and he hovered for long moments between consciousness and blackness until the pain eventually passed and gave him back some control. With great effort, he managed to drag himself over to the platform, wary that the machine might activate again. Gripping Rodney's arm, he could feel his body quivering and the burning heat that radiated from him. His mouth opened and closed spasmodically as blood trickled from his ears, the sight of which made John wipe at his own, finding that they too had been bleeding. Rodney's eyes were wide open and glazed, moving back and forth as if trying to focus on something and John was almost sure he saw a spark of blue light cross over those unseeing eyes.

"Rodney?" John shook him gently. "Rodney?" Getting no answer, he picked up his dislodged earpiece and put an emergency call out, and as the replies and questions that came in fell almost silently on his damaged ear, a hand grabbed his blistered arm and he looked down to find Rodney staring at him, pain and fear clearly etched on his face.

"I'm...sorry..."

John grabbed the hand that gripped his arm so tightly and held it until Rodney's eyes slowly closed.

"Help's on it's way Buddy, hang in there." He whispered, terrified of the memories that passed through his mind; of being in a similar position just over two years ago. And although it was an entirely different situation, the similarities were more than enough for John to silently plead for help to come swiftly.

_TBC..._


	5. 5

When the flurry of emergency had finally died down, John finally took the time to sit down and try to rest. By the time Rodney had been removed from the machine, brought to sick bay and John debriefed on what had happened, the day had passed into late afternoon. The noise in the infirmary stirred memories of his last stay in the place and his arm twitched as if it also remembered the long painful weeks he spent lying on starched white sheets as his body healed.

When Carson was sure that Rodney was stable and comfortable, he set about checking John over for the second time. The electric shock he received had left his body aching and perhaps a little more height to his hair, but Carson had assured him that he had suffered minimal effects that would pass by the morrow. Carson had cleansed and dressed the wounds on John's hands and arms, and now they itched like mad beneath the dressings, but he refused to complain as he sat in the chair by Rodney's bedside. When the doctor left him to attend to something else, John was left alone for the first time that day, listening to the noise of the machines that surrounded Rodney's bed. The constant beeping began to grate on his already frayed nerves so he took out the tiny MP3 player that he carried around in his shirt pocket, wishing to block out the sounds that played upon his mind with the more soothing sounds of his favorite music. As the sound of Johnny Cash calmed his mind, he relaxed back into the large visitors chair and rested his feet on the wheels of Rodney's bed. His eyes flickered from the sleeping scientist to the machines and back, constantly looking for a sign that he might wake up.

He used almost every moment in his vigil to analyze what had happened earlier, finding fault with himself at every turn. He questioned every little remark and action of his own that could have led them to this moment and found that he not only blamed himself for not stopping Rodney but also came to the conclusion that he might have forced him towards it. He thought at times he had been too soft on Rodney, at other times, too hard. He wished that he had toned down mission stories so that they didn't sound quite as exciting to Rodney than they might have done. He also wondered if perhaps his bright idea for Arennar day might possibly have been just another way for Rodney to feel less adequate and compounded his already low self esteem.

As the machines continued their monitoring of Rodney, John could not help but wonder how Ronon and Teyla would react to to what had happened, Ronon especially. If there was anything that John regretted equally as much as the crash, it was the break up of his friendship with Ronon. Since the time that the Satedan had joined his team, they had become strong friends and each others family, as it was with all of the team. The breakdown of their friendship had come from a moments thoughtlessness, a few angry words that John would forever wish he had never uttered. Already burdened with self reproach, he could not help but think back to the moment when Ronon and he had broken apart. It was only another chapter in the bigger story, another huge mistake he regretted and his current mood made sure he dredged up that old guilt too. He turned up the sound on his MP3 player, closed his eyes and remembered the entire thing as if it had happened yesterday.

_In the weeks following the crash, John had fought his own demons as he watched Rodney get used to being mute and chair bound. While no one really blamed him for what happened, John blamed himself and that combined with watching Rodney's daily struggle to adapt, was enough to pull him into a melancholia that was made worse by his own healing injuries at the time. His mood had spiraled until he barely recognised himself. He lacked confidence, lacked drive, he became a shadow of his former confident self. He went through his prescribed physiotherapy with little will to push himself but he did, if only for the fact that he knew Rodney had it so much worse than himself._

_Ronon had watched as John fell deeper every day into a depressive state, he himself hurting to see his friend so changed by what had happened. Determined to bring John back from whatever hell he was enduring, Ronon, amongst other things, decided to set up a night out on Muo. Ronon, Lorne and John, met with Bann at their favorite tavern on Muo main street, and with the exception of Lorne, they had set to drinking the thick strong local ale. While Ronon's intentions had been in the right place, he only realised his lack of judgement when John began to act as if he had never drank alcohol before in his life. Too late Ronon had realised that perhaps alcohol was not the answer, especially when he had neglected to tell John where they were going and so the man had unknowingly taken his pain killers before hand. The combination of alcohol, strong pain killers and a depressive state of mind quickly saw the colonel drunk to almost oblivion, and by the time they headed back to the Jumper to go home, Bann was more or less holding John in an upright position, his large furry hands practically lifting him all the way back to the landing bay._

" _Ahhh meetur John be you too greedy on Alfashan Ale my friend good! Might have I to carry you all the way! It is right I think that you not be flying tonight yourself!"_

_Bann waved as the Jumper bay hatch closed and the Lorne raised the PuddleJumper to fly them back to Atlantis. John was always a happy drunk, chilled and relaxed and amusing to be with. But that night he was decidedly edgy and paranoid; everything that anyone said was taken as some kind of snide remark against him._

" _I never took you as a lightweight, sir." Lorne's offhand comment started the ball rolling on what was to be the second biggest mistake John had ever made._

" _Exactly what does that mean?"_

" _You know, when it comes to booze."_

" _I'll have you know that I'd be perfectly able to fly us home, given the chance. Lightweight..." He rolled his eyes which made him dizzy and nauseous._

" _Pretty sure you'd crash if we let you." Ronon said with a smirk on his face, also amused at how very drunk John was._

" _Oh yeah? What exactly are you trying to say there, big guy?"_

" _Just saying, you're drunk, you'd crash."_

_But John didn't see the humour in either mans eyes nor hear it in their voices, and took the remarks as jibes against his recent crash._

" _I've never crashed, never! Blown out of the sky maybe, but never crashed."_

" _I never said you've crashed."_

" _Did...did he not just say that?" John said, spreading his arms out as if welcoming any back up he might get from Lorne, looking at Ronon who stared at him with amusement on his face. "I never crashed!"_

" _McKay might say otherwise."_

" _Oh yeah? What might he say then?" John asked, his anger rising._

" _That you crashed." Ronon's intended joke never reached John's mind, as all he heard was Ronon blaming him for what happened and McKay's predicament._

" _You think you could've done better? You could have stopped it?"_

" _I'm not saying anything, Sheppard."_

" _You are, you think you could have done better and it was all my fault. Yeah?" Ronon grunted and ignored him, which in the circumstances might not have been the best idea. "Oh yeah, I forgot, Muscles here can fight a wraith bare handed, likes nothing more than to bash their ugly heads together, right? Hell, I bet you'd've climbed out the Jumper just to take him on and save the day!" Shaking his head, Ronon sat back in his seat, aware that there was nothing that he could say that would placate John. "Mr Perfect, eh?"_

" _Never said I was perfect."_

" _No but clearly you think I could've done something different."_

" _I'm not saying that."_

" _Then what are you saying?"_

" _I'm saying that you're drunk."_

" _No no, you're saying something else, that I wasn't good enough. That it's all my fault that my ship was blown to bits and Rodney's in a wheelchair, yeah?" His words were becoming increasingly slurred as he swayed side to side in his seat._

" _Get some sleep Sheppard."_

" _No, this is good, this is good! We should talk about this! It's my fault that Rodney can't speak or walk, yeah? And you'd've gotten everyone safely home, right? Well I guess Melena might say otherwise to that."_

_An uneasy silence fell in the cabin, not that John noticed, and Lorne tensed in the pilot seat as John watched Ronon for his reaction._

" _Melena has nothing to do with this." Ronon said through gritted teeth._

" _Hasn't she? So, your...apparent...shortfall can be excused, but mine can't be forgiven?"_

" _Lets just take it easy now..." Lorne called over his shoulder, knowing that should Ronon react the way he thought he might, there would be a fight in the cockpit._

_Ronon pulled himself forward in his seat, closer to John. "Never, ever, speak her name again." He growled, his face taut with anger, his body rigid with every bit of control he could muster not to hit John for his remark._

_Something in John's mind clicked and suddenly he saw a little glint of reality through the drunken fog that clouded his mind. He had no idea why Melena had even come to his mind and silently cursed himself for daring to say such a thing, especially to Ronon who he knew would have given his life to save that of his betrothed. He could see in that moment of clarity that he had just ruined their friendship and as Ronon attempted to hide his raw mental anguish, John realised that there was very little that he could ever say to heal the psychological wound he had just inflicted._

" _M'sorry...no idea why I said that..."_

_Ronon just stared at him for long moments, obviously deliberating whether to beat him or shout at him, but in the end did something more terrifying; he spoke in such a quiet broken voice, that the words were driven home more effectively than if he had raised his hands._

" _I do blame you for what happened to McKay as it sure as hell wasn't his fault. It wasn't my fault that Melena died but I'll never forgive myself for not getting her to leave sooner, so I carry on in her name. But you're wallowing in self pity while McKay struggles on and you dare bring up my ability to take care of the ones I love? You make me sick."_

_Somewhere in his drunken mind John was aware that the words Ronon spoke were in retaliation for his earlier remark, that it wasn't really what Ronon truly believed, but with those final four words, he saw their friendship irreparably destroyed._

Looking back, it was such a stupid thing to ever have entered into his head. It had taken Ronon a long time to tell him about Melena, to open up even a tiny bit to John about his loss and longing for the woman he had loved so dearly. John had thrown that back in his face with a single liquor fueled statement and Ronon had never forgiven him for it. In fact, because he had been hurt by the one person he trusted the most, Ronon made himself believe his own statement; that John was responsible for Rodney's pain. John regretted it terribly, he had lost one of his closest friends. But it was the catalyst that had broken his depressive state, and even in a way had given him the idea for Arennar day. Knowing that Ronon had become very protective of Rodney after his first venture with the Ascension machine, how he was going to react to what happened this morning was anyone's guess. But John knew one thing was for sure; no matter the outcome, Ronon would blame him.

"Are you still beating yerself up?" The voice of the Scottish doctor invaded his thoughts as his earphones were pulled from his ears.

"What makes you think I'll ever stop?" John asked as he righted himself in the chair, taking the earphones from the doctors hands.

Carson sighed and began his half hourly check on Rodney, marking his findings on the chart at the foot of the bed.

"You have to know that this of all things was not your fault John."

"Wasn't it?"

Carson pulled a seat over from the side of the bed and sat next to him and looked at Rodney.

"He has never gotten over the fact that he couldn't prove me wrong." Carson said with a sad smile. "I wish that he had."

"Yeah."

Carson looked at John with a medical eye. "You need to get some sleep, son."

"I'm fine, Doc." John replied with enough irritation to fend off Carson without insulting him, for a while at least. "How's he doing?"

"Scans show nothing of note, bloods came back fine, none of the same markers of his last encounter with the ascension machine. We will keep an eye on him, but I have to hope that his tampering stopped any of the more harmful side effects of that bloody contraption."

The monitors beeped on and despite his protestations, John could feel his head drooping before Carson laid a blanket over him.

"Get some sleep son, hopefully he'll be awake come morning."

But he had heard Carson say similar words in the past and the fact that Rodney didn't wake up for weeks then, didn't inspire much confidence in John now. The words took him back to that time and dredged up the intense feelings of guilt that he had felt upon wakening after the crash to find Rodney in a coma. His inability to bring down a wraith dart without destroying his own ship in the process had brought them to this very moment, and there wasn't anything that anyone could say that would stop him punishing himself for it. His thoughts were suddenly scattered when the sound of screaming startled him back to reality. He was on his feet and at Rodney's side in seconds, shouting for help from the medical team as the horrible screaming continued.

Rodney's eyes were closed and tears poured from them, trickling down into his hair. His hands clenched into fists so tight that his knuckles were white from the strain and the bed creaked as Rodney's body bucked and contorted. Carson hurried over from across the room, trying in vain to calm Rodney down with gentle words that never even reached his ears.

"MY LEGS!" He screamed, his eyes opening as his face twisted in agony. "Help me! My LEGS!"

John held him gently but firmly by the shoulders to stop him from coming out of the bed, as Carson injected medicines into the line connected to Rodney's arm, then walked to the bottom of the bed where he raised the covers slightly to have a look at his legs.

"Oh dear God." Carson muttered quietly, a look of shock on his face, his mouth agape.

As he pulled the covers back further, John saw and recoiled in horror from the sight that had Carson so transfixed. Rodney's thin and withered legs were changing before them, the skin rippling grotesquely by movement beneath. A grey metallic substance dripped from his skin to pool and solidify on the sheets of the bed. Cracking noises filled the air as the badly healed splintered bones were pulled apart only to be reknit and they rebuilt themselves in an excruciating slowness that left Rodney suffering torture that John could not even begin to imagine. Rodney writhed and shrieked, almost falling from the bed which prompted John to take hold of his shoulders again. Tearing his eyes away from the morphing legs he looked at Rodney's tear streaked face, his eyes begging John to help him but he had no idea how to, all he could do was hold his friend and hope that whatever was happening would end soon. Eventually Rodney's screams became whimpers and pained moans as the movement and noises from beneath his skin slowed to a stop. His back remained arched off the bed in one long spasm before he took a long deep breath and sagged back onto the bed and its sweat soaked linen. Silence filled the room and everyone stared at Rodney who had closed his eyes and became limp, clearly unconscious. Walking a few unsteady paces back the bed, John pulled fretfully at his messy hair, confused at what he had witnessed.

"What the hell just happened?" He asked no one in particular and his words seemed to jolt everyone around him back into action.

Carson began shouting orders before asking John to move back into the other bay, then pulled the curtains around Rodney's bed. Medical personnel hurried to and from the curtained bay with equipment and medical supplies as John sat on the edge of a chair, leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and bit worriedly at his lip. His mind replayed images of Rodney's legs changing and as he remembered the sickening noises that accompanied the sight, nausea bringing bile to the back of his throat. Sitting further back in the chair he closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead, feeling the beginning of a headache behind his eyes. By the time the curtains were drawn back, John had fallen into a light snooze, oblivious to all until his leg cramped and woke him. He looked around disorientated, until until his eyes settled on Rodney's ashen face.

"What have you done." He whispered, watching his friend's slow steady breathing.

"I'll tell you what he's done." The voice made him jump, turning quickly to see Carson walking to the foot of Rodney's bed and lifting the chart hanging on the end. "He has ruined all the hard work I did to put his legs back together again.

"What d'you mean?"

"Remember that metallic liquid that seemed to be oozing from his skin? Well, that was the pins I used to keep his bones together. It's as if his body rejected them and forced them through his pores." Carson said as he scribbled some notes on the chart.

John felt too numb to speak and he watched Rodney's eyes dancing behind his closed eyelids. He wondered if the man had even attempted to prepare himself for his experiment going wrong, but knew that Rodney rarely considered failure as an outcome.

"But then, he always did go out of his way to prove me wrong, and this time is no exception." He said, hanging the chart back on the bed.

"In what way?" John asked but before he could get a reply, Mr Woolsey announced his arrival with a clearing of his throat.

"Yes Doctor Beckett, what was it that just had to have my attention right away, dragging me from my very late lunch?"

"Ah, now if you would both follow me, I've got something to show you."

John and Woolsey followed Carson to his office, where he placed two separate scan films up for them to see. Woolsey regarded the two scans, his brows knitting together in confusion.

"Aren't these scans the wrong way round Doctor Beckett, or are you trying to tell me that Doctor McKay's madcap idea actually worked?"

"That's exactly what I'm telling you. See this one, this is the scan I took after I attempted to fix his shattered legs." He pointed to the film which showed Rodney's poor twisted legs, badly healed and calloused bones, filled with more metal pins than bone and very little muscle mass due to lack of use. "And this, I took after his little adventure this morning."

Anyone would believe the second scan to be of an entirely different pair of legs. They were in perfect condition, not one fracture line, metal pin or scarred bone. When compared to his early scans, it appeared that his legs were the same if not better than they had been before the crash.

"How...? That's just not possible." John said when he finally found his voice.

"Well going by this," his hands indicating the new scan result, "It most certainly is possible. Rodney not only proved me wrong, but he healed his legs entirely." There was wonder in his voice, wonder and just a hint of hurt. Although Carson had did his very best to get Rodney back on his feet, there just wasn't anything medically advanced enough to have helped him, and he never got over the fact that he failed his friend.

"Huh." Woolsey continued to stare at the scans. "And do you believe that he will be able to walk after this?"

"Well that remains to be seen, I'm not even sure he will even wake up, there's no telling what an event like this might have done to him. If just one tiny drop of that liquid metal got into his bloodstream and made it to his brain...well, until he wakens I won't even be a hundred percent sure if the machine itself has in any way affected his mind. The stress and pain that this would have caused, it would be a wonder if Rodney came out of this mentally unscathed."

"Why would this happen now and not when the machine was activated on him?"

"Well, I am no expert on ancient or Goaul'd technology, but I believe..."

John excused himself and left them to continue their conversation as his headache worsened. Throwing himself into the chair next to Rodney's bed, he looked him over and sighed.

"You did it Rodney. Son of a bitch you did it." He whispered in awe, even though he still had that niggling worry scratching at the back of his mind, fear at what the machine might also have done to him.

His headache was becoming increasingly painful, not helped by the lighting in the infirmary, and since Carson had more or less given him the all clear, he decided to rest in the comfortable darkness of his own room. He stood to leave when two worried looking people entered the infirmary, halting his plan in its tracks. They had just returned from escorting the mayor back to Taui back home and Chuck had apparently informed Ronon and Teyla of Rodney having been taken to the infirmary, but as he had been unable to clarify why, it fell to Jon to explain the reason why their close friend lay unconscious in an infirmary bed. He sat back down and told them everything that had happened in the morning after they had left for Taui, watching as Teyla's eyes filled with tears and Ronon's face clouded over with anger.

"What he must have went through." Teyla said, as she stroked Rodney's still arm, the way in which her breath hitched on her words, setting an ache in John's chest. "And what of his mind? Will he wake up?"

John lowered his head, unable to look either of them in the eye as he explained to them what Carson had said, aware of Ronon's intense gaze upon him. "It's all my fault." He finished sadly, speaking the words that were echoing continually through his head.

"This is not your fault John." Teyla said, her eyes at once scolding as they were pained for him. Scolding him for blaming himself for what by all accounts had been an accident. Her words didn't make him feel any better, but he nodded his head anyway, knowing deep down that she was right.

"Why didn't you stop him?" Ronon's deep voice cut through the air, his face creased in anger, his eyes staring hard at John who had been expecting such a question.

"Ronon!" Teyla admonished.

"We all know what happened the last time, how could he let him do it again?" The blow from the Satedan's words was almost like a physical punch to the face and John found that he could not look Ronon in the eyes.

"I tried." he said, his fingers trailing absentmindedly over the bandages which covered the burns and blisters on his arms.

"Oh John..." Teyla said as she noticed his bandaged arms for the first time.

"Not hard enough." Ronon snapped, fury emanating from him.

"Ronon!" Teyla raised her voice, staring furiously at the large man. "It will not do Rodney or ourselves any good to be arguing. Can't you see that John is also injured?"

"Yeah, well I'm just saying. He was there, he should have dragged him out as soon as he found him."

Rodney slept on, oblivious to what was going on around him and John envied him for his ignorance. Ronon had just reminded him of how close he came to actually losing Rodney, again. Maybe he just wasn't that good a friend, he always seemed to put his friends in danger. How many times was he going to jeopardize his teammates lives before he really did lose them?

Turning from the bed, he made his way towards the door, feeling as if their eyes were boring holes into the back of his head.

"John, where are you going?" Teyla asked. He could hear the strain in her voice, knew that she was angry with Ronon, but he didn't care. He had to get out of there.

"Bed." he muttered and left.

_TBC... Feed my soul cookie comments please!_


	6. 6

_The light blinded him and the pain that filled his entire being was excruciating. Blue fire burned him alive and he imagined his blood boiling in his veins. Through the flames, he could see John Sheppard trying to pull him from the fire unsuccessfully and he thrashed in agony on the platform beneath the accursed machine which had activated by accident. A low thrumming sound was ever present in his mind, a deep humming that rose and fell in intensity that sometimes shook his body and made it feel as if his head would explode until he passed out into blissful nothingness._

_He was dragged back from this peace into a reality that was filled with nothing but agony. His entire being was wracked with pain and fire seemed to burn intensely in his lower limbs which he clawed at as he screamed. His body trembled, his teeth rattled in his head and the muscles in his jaw clenched and unclenched involuntarily. His legs were on fire but not only that, they felt as if they were being ripped apart and torn from his body leaving behind nothing but unending torturous agony. When the pain became too much, making him crave for nothing but death, that was when the whispering started. At first, it was a low shushing sound that he thought was the blood pumping through his veins sounding in his ears, but the sound increased until he was sure it was someone whispering words that were alien to him. Filled with strange clicks and noises that made no sense, there were also clear words of some language he did not understand. The pain reached such levels that his eyes had snapped open and he saw John staring down at him with terrified eyes and he wondered if it was his voice that he could hear. But John's mouth was not moving, it was open in astonished horror as he watched whatever was happening, and Rodney was terrified at what it was that could place a look like that on John Sheppard's face. Then the agony began to subside as the whispering faded away, and he fell back on the bed in relief into a welcoming blackness in which he suffered no more._

It was the noise of someone coughing that finally woke him and he stared up at the unfamiliar ceiling above him. Momentarily puzzled, it took him a moment to realise that he was not in his own room but in the infirmary and then he remembered everything. He could feel the aftermath of whatever had happened to him; it felt as if every part of him had been put through a ringer then tossed into an industrial compactor. Nearby whispering unnerved him until he realised it was coming from the other side of the room and he turned his head to see Carson conversing with a nurse at his office door.

Trying to turn onto his side, Rodney grimaced as his stiff muscles protested against the movement and as the last remnants of sleep left him, his brain registered the fact that his legs felt very different. They felt bigger, fuller but most importantly, the raw gnawing pain that had been his constant companion these last two years, was gone. For a few moments he lay there, wondering if his tired brain was tricking him and waited on the inevitable return of the pain, but it never came. Pulling on the bed sides, he sat up and threw the covers back to stare at his legs, finding them more or less identical to the ones he used to possess, prior to the crash. Strong healthy legs that he had not seen in so long that he had forgotten what they looked like. Gone were the scars that criss crossed his skin, gone was the ever present swelling of scar tissue beneath the deepest scar at the bottom of his left leg. But the thing that hit him the hardest was the fact that he felt no pain, not even a twinge. He flexed his feet and wriggled his toes, wiping his eyes free from the tears of joy that suddenly blinded him. He bent one knee, then the other, pulling them up to almost under his chin and he grinned with excitement as his legs did what he asked of them.

As he went to pull himself to the end of the bed, he noticed the beeping from the monitors, and the wires connected to his skin with sticky pads. He wanted this moment to be his, no one else's and he wasn't about to let a stupid alarm draw any attention to him, so he leaned over and switched the machines off as he tugged the wires and pads from his skin. Quietly pulling himself to the end of the bed where the safety rail stopped, he squeezed himself out to sit at the very edge. Letting his legs swing back and forth, he reveled in the fact he could do so without any hint of the agony he used to experience. Slipping off the edge of the bed so that his feet lightly touched the cold floor, his face lit up in delight at the sensation and the fact that the intense stabbing pain that normally accompanied standing, was no longer there. He could hardly contain himself as he pushed off the bed to stand on his own two feet, only standing there for a few seconds before he decided that he should try to walk. Lifting one foot a few inches off the floor, he made to step forward and stumbled at the strangeness of all the sensations that suddenly washed over him, sensations that he had longed to experience and had almost forgotten. Gripping the bed rail, he righted himself while chuckling, seeing himself almost like a child taking its first steps. His second attempt was a little better, as he managed to clear the bed and stagger a few steps into the ward, his legs a little wobbly and stiff. Walking slowly and now steadily, he gained confidence in his steps and soon he passed Carson and the nurse who both did a double take in astonishment.

"Rodney?" The wide eyed doctor said.

"Carson." he replied and continued walking, well aware that the doctor was staring after him. He counted down from five to see how long it took for Carson to shake off the shock and catch up with him, managing to get to three before he felt the hand fall upon his shoulder and the Scottish voice sound next to him.

"Eh, where d'you think you're going? I haven't cleared you to get out of bed yet let alone the infirmary."

Rodney turned his head and beamed at him, taking simple pleasure in the fact that Carson had not tried to stop him but rather fell in step and walked beside him.

"I'm just going for a walk around the ward." Indeed, he was already heading back towards his bed.

He jumped lightly up onto the bed and lay down, sighing contentedly as Carson worried over him like a mother hen.

"Do you have any pain? Any strange sensations? Anything out of the ordinary? This whole bloody thing is out of the ordinary, but you get what I mean."

"Carson, relax. I'm perfectly fine."

"I'll be the judge of that, you stay there until I come back, d'you hear me?"

As Carson left to gather up things to test him with, Rodney laid back in the bed and sighed happily. Accident or not, the machine had worked just as he had thought it would and he could not be happier. So when the low peculiar whispering began to sound in his ears, he tried to ignore it. Perhaps, he thought, the rise in his blood pressure due to being on his feet for the first time in a long time, was what was causing the odd noise, and he was determined that nothing was going to spoil this moment for him.

Within the day he hoped to be discharged, and he pushed towards that goal with all the determination and stubbornness that he could muster. Come late morning, having only suffered an hour of unneeded physio, the physiotherapist conceded that there was nothing that she could do for him now. Carson of course took longer to convince and after a battery of tests, he too had to concede that there was no reason for Rodney to stay within the confines of the infirmary. With strict instructions to return to infirmary should anything untoward crop up, Rodney was discharged in the early afternoon.

His mood was lifted to the point that nothing seemed to faze him, not even the curious and shocked looks of the people that he passed on the way to the mess hall. He was starving and craved something more substantial than the paltry hospital sized portions that Carson and his team tried to feed him. He also knew that John and the others had returned from being offworld since early morning, and he bet that the trio were currently having lunch. He could not wait to see the looks on their faces when he walked in. He was a little surprised to see John sitting alone at the far corner of the mess hall, with no sign of either Teyla or Ronon to be seen. He stood for a moment and watched John, hoping that he would look up and see him standing there. But John stared at his food while playing with it, looking completely disinterested in the meal before him. Feeling that he could cheer him up, Rodney shrugged, pushed out his chest and sauntered across the mess hall towards John's table. He threw himself in the chair across the table from his shaggy haired friend then put a hand to John's rapidly cooling food and stole a chip. John looked up slowly, barely registering Rodney before his gaze returned to his food tray. But then he did the same comedic double take that Carson and the nurse had done earlier, his eyes widening while his eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Rodney?!" He said incredulously, throwing his fork onto his plate.

"The one and only." Rodney replied with a smug grin on his face.

"But, when? How?"

Rodney laughed. "About fifteen minutes ago and under my own, steam I might add." he said, slapping his leg.

John grinned and pushed his unfinished lunch away from him then leaned his elbows on the table.

"So you really did do it."

"Of course, and quite frankly I am amazed that you still lack the confidence in my genius after all this time."

"But...you're okay!"

"Of course I'm okay, what? You thought perhaps I would grow another head or something?!"

"No, no. We weren't sure you'd...be yourself if you woke up."

"Well rest assured that I am indeed myself, no harm done, all intact." He said, tapping his head. "Where are the others?" He was puzzled to see a look of guilt cross John's face and the grin on his face fixed there momentarily frozen without any real genuine warmth behind it.

"Teyla has gone to spend some time with Torren. Ronon..he ah...finished lunch earlier and I'm not sure where he is." John muttered as he pulled at the bandage on his arm.

"What happened to your arms?"

"Trying to pull you from that damned machine is what happened to them. Burnt by the flames"

Rodney was confused. "How come you got burned, and I didn't?" He asked, mostly to himself.

"No idea."

"I'm sorry, that was my fault." Rodney was not used to this moody side of John, couldn't quite figure out what was wrong.

"It was an accident Rodney, not your fault."

John continued to pick at the bandages, quiet and sullen and Rodney lifted another couple of chips from the abandoned plate and stood up.

"Hey, what say you join me in burying an old enemy at sea?"

John stared at him perplexed but got up and followed Rodney out of the mess hall regardless. Rodney's wheelchair sat just outside the door and he began pushing it, motioning John to follow him. They made their way to the West pier, taking the chair on its last journey. When they stepped out onto the pier, they were met by the fresh air and the smell of the salty sea.

"Give me a hand." He said as he crouched beside the wheelchair and took hold of it. John followed suite and they both hurled the chair cleanly over the edge of the pier and watched in silence as it splashed into the water and quickly sank. It left only some ripples to show that it had ever been there, disappearing amongst some bubbles, then it disappeared forever.

"So?" John asked, still watching the sea.

"You have no idea how good that felt." Rodney replied, feeling as though the chair had pulled all the pain and anguish he had felt since the accident to the murky bottom of the sea with it.

"So what now?"

"Well, I was wondering if there was a vacancy on the team for me."

"I'm pretty sure there will be. Radek never really enjoyed the off world life like you did. Forever moaning about his precious research experiments and his inability to work on them."

Rodney chuckled, he could just imagine the small Czech, bored to tears on long space journeys, wishing that he was back on Atlantis enjoying the life that Rodney once had, long before he fell in love with exploring the Pegasus galaxy.

Leaning down, he sat himself on the pier, swinging his legs over the edge like he had done so long ago when they had enjoyed a beer on this very pier. John got down and sat beside him, looking out over the sea as a cool breeze tugged at his hair. They sat in silence, each lost in his own thoughts for a while, both trying to work out exactly what to say to the other.

"I never blamed you for any of what happened you know." Rodney said after a while. "I know you have always blamed yourself, but I never did. I want you to know that."

John turned to look at him, his piercing green eyes filled with pain. It was clear that John had things he wanted to say but was unable to. Rodney turned away, unable to gaze upon those haunted eyes any longer, knowing that John was hurting more than he had ever known him to, fully aware that he was partly to blame for that pain. He wasn't stupid, despite everyone's attempts to shield him from the truth, Rodney knew what had happened to John in those first couple of months. He had seen the change in him himself, knew that the guilt of what had happened weighed so heavily on John's shoulders it was bound to have left a mark. He had felt so very powerless to help him, hell, he could hardly even help himself those first few months, so he had decided to toughen himself up and show everyone that he was just as capable living mute in a wheelchair, hoping that his strength might perhaps help John to forgive himself. But it was evident from the look in John's eyes that he had not forgiven himself, indeed, today he seemed even more withdrawn than normal and Rodney was sure it was because of what had happened yesterday morning.

"If anything, I'm thankful for everything you've done or tried to do for me. There were days that I wished only to disappear, days in which I...I wished I had died in the crash, but you kept me going."

"Rodney..." John sighed, his head lowered, looking at his fingers which picked at his nails or pulled at his bandages.

"John, I'm only here today because of everything that you did for me."

The sea's endless motion seemed to mirror their own inner turbulence, the ever changing extremes of emotions that had been part of them both for so very long that it was hard to talk about them without being hit by the wave of another surfacing feeling. The sound of waves lapping at the edge of the city seemed to sooth John and he raised his head to look out over the water as if seeking the words to say in the eternal movement of the water.

"I've never been able to say sorry. Never had the courage to look you in the eye and admit that I'd failed you." John finally said, shaking his head and refusing to look at Rodney. "God knows there hasn't been a day when I didn't wish it was me in that chair and not you." He turned to Rodney and smiled self consciously, only to turn away again, still unable to look him in the eye.

"You have nothing to be sorry about. You did your best that day and there was nothing you could do to stop that inevitable outcome. I doubt even Manfred Von Richthofen could have pulled off what you _did_ managed that day."

"Seriously? You are seriously gonna liken me to the Red Baron?"

"Well, he was a _seriously_ good pilot, one of the very best I understand. So yes, I am likening you to him, as you are the best pilot I know." Rodney saw the twitch of a smile that pulled at John's mouth. "You really are a good friend, John. Thanks for being there for me."

"Like I said before, you're stuck with me Rodney, I said I wasn't going anywhere and I meant it."

Rodney shivered as the air cooled and a chill breeze blew over the pier. "Well I hate to break it to you but I _am_ going somewhere," Rodney said through chattering teeth, "Indoors! Its freezing!"

They made their way back inside, both feeling lighter than they had done in many months, happier in mind and spirit. Laughing and joking the way they used to as they walked, for those short minutes, it was as if nothing had ever changed and the last two years were nothing but a bad dream. John relaxed considerably, his trademark cocky grin even surfaced as he sauntered ahead of Rodney. But as they passed through a set of automatic doors, Rodney experienced what felt like a scratching, tingling sensation at the base of his skull. He was glad his friend was facing away from him as he stumbled slightly in surprise when the strange alien whispers seemed to sound from the doors as they closed. He pushed it from his mind and caught up with John, unnerved and slightly fearful that perhaps he wasn't quite as fine as he had been feeling. The tingling sensation grew and he felt that perhaps it was simply the shivers from the cold he was feeling, or at least that is what he told himself as they made their way back towards the centre of the city. John stopped halfway up the corridor, his hand pressed to his ear as he listened to whatever was being said over the earpiece.

"They're looking for you."

"Who?"

"Teyla and Ronon."

Rodney didn't miss the tightening of John's jaw or the weariness that suddenly invaded his eyes. He had his suspicions as to why Ronon and John had fallen out, but he didn't know for sure. But thoughts of why disappeared when his eyes blurred and he felt a pain behind them as the whispering from before grew louder in his mind and he was suddenly scared. His body swayed a little as he was overcome with sudden dizziness, glad when he felt the pressure of John's hand on his shoulder to steady him.

"Hey, you ok? You're chalk white!"

"I think I've just overdone it, I'm suddenly very tired." He replied trying to hide his fear from John. "You know, first time walking in two years and all that."

"C'mon, let's get you to Carson." John made to guide him but Rodney gently pushed him away for fear that John might see through his lie.

"I don't need Carson, I'm okay. I just need a little lie down." He said, fixing a tired grin on his face as he began walking again, hoping to convince John that what was happening was perfectly normal and that he wasn't scared shitless of about it.

"Alright, let's get you to your room then. I'll say to Teyla and Ronon that you've went for a lie down and you'll see them later."

As they continued to make their way to Rodney's room, he was thankful that the dizziness subsided. He was grateful that John, as usual, didn't make him feel in any way incapacitated and they chatted away until they reached Rodney's quarters.

John had given him one last worried glance before he left, promising to check in on him in a couple of hours. Rodney threw himself onto his bed and curled up into a tight ball beneath his duvet. Never before had he been so relieved to be alone and in his own bed, and never before had he ever felt so incredibly scared. He shook and shivered as the strange sensation increased like an irritating itch that he could not scratch. Normally he would have worried about it all night, would have wondered if had a brain tumor or something else just as devastating as his famed hypochondria let his imagination run away from him. He might even have gone as far as to seek out Carson and demand a brain scan, made a scene of such convincing dramatics that Carson would shake his head while rolling his eyes then yield and give him the scan. But the fact was that he very quickly fell into a very deep sleep where he dreamed of a land where blue flames burst through ground on which walked strange creatures that whispered in the darkness. Eventually even the dreams stopped, and despite John keeping his promise and checking on him, he slept through in dreamless darkness until the following morning.

_TBC._..

 


	7. 7

The day had begun like any other; an early rise and breakfast before suiting up, followed by a briefing of the days mission in the conference room. Rodney, of course, decided to skip breakfast and stock his back pack with sugary energy bars instead, not wanting to be late for his first mission back on the team. Of course he arrived late to the meeting, not the best of starts, he thought. When the meeting was over, no one was particularly enthused about going on the mission, one reason being that their Genii "friends" had given them the intel. No matter how much information or help the Genii gave, John would never trust a thing about them, and given what he had been through at the hands of the Genii, no one blamed him for thinking that way. They were heading to a planet known as Gulyna, a young planet, apparently rich in many foods and ores that would replenish the low stores on Atlantis. There were also reportedly special medicinal herbs that Carson and his team had taken a particular interest in. Despite John's reservations; he didn't trust them a damn, it all sounded too good not to have a look at.  
Apparently the home of a somewhat primitive culture, the population that had developed, lived on a single continent of the planet; the one on which the Stargate was located. They had been told that the settlement itself was some distance from the gate, so it was decided that they would take a PuddleJumper, set down just outside the settlement area and make the final leg of the journey on foot. The plan was basically to walk to town, meet the locals, form some kind of trade agreement and head home. It all sounded straight forward enough, a mission like many they had carried out many times before elsewhere, but when they reached Gulyna later that morning, it didn't at all go to plan.

First annoyance was the high winds that tunneled down the valley, creating a turbulent flight that pushed John to keep the craft in a straight line. Then, once in sight of the chosen landing area, the Jumper dropped suddenly and clipped some kind of small landmark that turned out to be the first in a mile long line of idols that would lead through the forest straight to the heart of the settlement. John set the Jumper down some yards away from the toppled statue and once they disembarked, they made their way towards it with the intent to right it again, no harm no foul. As they neared, it became obvious that it had wraith like qualities to its features and they figured that perhaps the indigenous people had a strange fascination for the wraith, which at once put them all on edge. As John reached out to touch it, around twenty human natives ran from the cover of the surrounding trees, weapons held high while screaming tongue twisting obscenities towards the team. Teyla, ever the diplomat, advised John and Ronon to lower their newly raised weapons, as she was sure that the guns might provoke them into using their sharp spears on them and that the best chance at ending the confrontation peacefully, always stood on the grounds of a heart felt apology.

The apology worked somewhat, placating the angry people who lowered their weapons and thankfully ceased their ear splitting screeching once the idol was righted again. Flanked on all sides and following the line of small crude statues, they were led through the trees towards the settlement. There, the line of idols continued until they stopped at the doorway of what appeared to be a simple temple, where they were greeted by the shamanistic leader and his wife. He introduced himself as N'panyu Great High. What he was great or high at, they had no idea, but he certainly put on the airs and graces of a diplomat, while adorned in feathers, fur and roped beading with mud smeared over his body. Teyla again reiterated the apology, explaining that it had not been their intent to in any way affront their God, and that it had merely been an accident. N'Panyu accepted her apology and invited them all to join him in the temple with his wife, for a small meal before the negotiations began.  
It was clear that although their culture appeared to be primitive, they were by no means less intelligent than any other species or persons they had met. N'Panyu for all his appearance, was quite obviously a shrewd and intelligent man, asking questions that quite frankly surprised John as they made their way to the inner room of the crude temple.

"Your ship, it has the ability to thread the gates? It is almost like the small Wraneth ships, does that mean you also have bigger ships from where you launch?"

Wraneth wasn't a word John had ever heard before, but Teyla was quick to point out that it was an archaic title for the Wraith that had once been used in reverence before people understood what they really were. It was another thing to feel uneasy about and John was liking Gulyna less as the day went on and by the looks of it, Ronon even less so. They entered the room at the very heart of the temple, a round dark room with a dusty sand floor. Decorated minimally, there were sconces for meager lighting but only a few of them were lit, and huge thick red curtains covered most of the walls. Their seats were fat round cushions placed in a circle around a central fire pit that glowed warmly and kept the room at an uncomfortably warm temperature. N'panyu's wife lit another couple of sconces and brought the lighting up to a more tolerable level, allowing them to see a great deal more. For example, the strange carvings around the fire pit and the unsettling red smears on the wall not covered by the curtains became quite vividly obvious and more sinister with the flickering light.

Two men and one woman brought them platters of food, some more appetizing than others, and Rodney looked at it all with disgust. Once he was sure none of the others were being poisoned, he chanced a taste at what looked like a banana, only to find it tasted oddly like an orange, which put him off eating altogether. Two younger women brought in a large urn from which they poured a golden yellow liquid which tasted of vanilla and chocolate. Of course, as with any initial meeting, none of them took any large amount of food or drink, especially with them already feeling uneasy, but they ate enough as to not appear impolite. Before long, N'panyu had clapped his hands for the meal to be taken away, which it duly was by the attendants, some of whom licked their lips as they stared at the food they were carrying away, giving the impression that the feast was not something they saw every day. Everything seemed to be going well despite their initial misgivings, that was, until N'panyu asked for silence so that he could say an after meal prayer of thanks to their God. They sat in silence as he rose to his feet and began gesticulating in front of one of the heavy curtains, murmuring and whispering as his hands made shapes in the air. He then took hold of a piece of dark rope and pulled it, which hoisted the curtain upwards to reveal the God's statue behind it.

The statue almost seemed alive, almost too convincing in it's depiction of N'panyu's god. Tall and elegant, it was detailed and painted to the highest degree, from the long flowing hair to the perfectly fashioned feeding mouth embedded within the outstretched hand. The wraith queen looked out over the room with cold sightless eyes as if she was overseeing the meal in person. On sight of it, Ronon had quickly gotten to his feet, pulling his pistol from its holster as his eyes scoured the room for any signs of ambush or hostile confrontation, but in doing so, he himself created one. N'panyu stared at him in horror, for Ronon was standing when no one should, except himself as leader. John pulled at Ronon's long coat but the Satedan pulled it from his grasp then went to sit again when N'panyu made a loud screeching noise that brought guards running into the room. They were all on their feet before N'panyu could finish dropping the curtain, either to hide the statue or so that the queen might not look upon what was about to happen. Either way, once the curtain hit the floor N'panyu ran towards Ronon screaming loudly. Seeing the man, blinded by fury running towards him, Ronon simply raised his arm and prepared to take an impact. It was an effortless and effective move as N'panyu ran straight into his tight fist, his nose crunching on contact. With a squeal of pain, Nypanyu fell to the ground clutching at his shattered nose, triggering a loud awful screeching from his guards which alerted almost everyone in the vicinity that the visitors were no longer welcomed.

Taking it as their cue to leave, the team grabbed their things and ran, bursting out of the temple at top speed with the guards hot on their heels. They ran from the settlement for their lives as spears, bricks and pretty much everything else that the natives could lay their hands on were hurled at them with uncanny precision. By the time they were reaching the edge of the tree line near the Jumper, they were cut and bruised from the well aimed missiles but they were not out of trouble yet as when the Jumper came into sight, it was surrounded by a group of people who were currently either trying to lift the ship or break into it. It was not immediately clear which was the case as about half were hitting it with stones and such while the other half were attempting to push long wooden levers beneath it in order to carry it. Whatever they were trying to do, the team had to get the hell off this planet before anyone was seriously hurt, and Teyla warned Ronon, who had his pistol pointed at the locals, that shooting them all was not an option.

"So what are we going to do?! We can't just wait here like sitting ducks! First mission away and this is what happens? I knew I should have stayed on Atlantis." Rodney moaned, yet he was relishing being back on the team and experiencing the heady buzz of danger.

"Now I know you'd rather be here, Rodney." John drawled as he watched some of the natives through his gun sight. "We couldn't hold you back, remember?"

"Yes, well, perhaps if Mr Punch-first-ask-questions-later hadn't attacked their leader, we wouldn't be in this situation!" Rodney glared at Ronon, who shook his head and laughed quietly.

"I never punched him, he ran into my fist." Ronon replied with a grin.

"Well I think that we can rule out any trade negotiations with this lot, yeah?" John said as he took careful aim towards the rear of the Jumper.

His gunshot echoed in their ears, meaning to disperse the natives attacking the ship, but all it did was draw attention to their position as every one of them turned to look at them before raising their arms and pointing at the team while screeching loudly. It was like a scene from some awful horror movie but it alerted the others who had been quietly searching the woodland and then they too began screeching as they swiftly made their way towards the team.

"Cover me!" John said and he broke cover before anyone had a chance to speak.

Running into the oncoming mob, he fired off warning shots as he went, forcing the angry people back as he raced to the Jumper. A spear and a large stone bounced off the side of the Jumper as he activated the switch to open the hatch and he hunkered down just inside the hatch for cover as he laid down cover fire for the others.

Ronon's powerful particle magnum was set to stun, and he fired it relentlessly leaving people slumped on the ground as he moved forward. Teyla fired off warning bursts from her P90, clearing a path as the three made their way slowly back to the safety of the ship.

"Remind me again why we can't just shoot them!" Rodney said as he shot his handgun at the feet of an oncoming local.

"Just keep moving, we are nearly there!" Teyla called back.

John continued to lay down cover fire as the three got nearer to the ship, but the mob was growing as other people arrived from the settlement, all joining in the attempt to kill the team. He watched helplessly as Rodney and Teyla were grabbed at and pulled deeper into the crowd, then he saw Ronon's fury peak as he roared and fired his pistol indiscriminately at the would be captors. The crowd broke apart once half of them were stunned and allowed Teyla and Rodney to get back to their feet and make a run for the ship. John stood and urged them on, gun raised in case they were attacked on the way. So close now, a few more steps and they would be within the safety of the ship and able to get the hell off Gulyna. But as he watched them run towards him, he saw Ronon's head jerk, then his eyes rolled back in his head as he fell to the ground amidst a surge of locals. The others must have seen the shock on John's face as they immediately stopped and turned to see what he was looking at. John then sped past them, ordering them to stay with the ship and keep it defended. He ran towards the small crowd that had now grown around Ronon's fallen body and John roared angrily, firing his P90 directly at those who posed the biggest threat. Flesh wounds were nothing compared to what he would do if he lost Ronon to them. The crowd dispersed quickly when the people saw blood being shed, leaving John to help the fallen man. Ronon was groaning, a mat of bloodied hair on the back of his head from where a rock had hit and it was evident by the marks on his clothing that the crowd had also had a good try at kicking the life out of him. John helped him to roll over onto his back, as Teyla came forward to provide cover fire should it be necessary.

"It's me, I've got you." John said as a dazed and confused Ronon tried to push him away.

"Never doubted it." Ronon replied as his eyes focused on him then allowed John to help him to his feet.

John supported Ronon back to the ship as Teyla walked behind them with her gun raised. Once the three had made it into the ship, Rodney hit the switch to close the hatch. Teyla attended to Ronon as John jumped into the pilots seat and made to take off.  
None of them were looking towards the rear of the ship or Rodney. But had they been looking, they would have seen the final spear thrown by one of the more courageous of the angry crowd, and it should have taken Rodney between the eyes had it not been somehow deflected. They might have seen the spark of bluish white that lit up from within Rodney's eyes as he watched the spear fly through the air towards him. They might also have seen his perfectly calm demeanor that was so unlike Rodney McKay and so highly out of character given the circumstances that it would have surprised them. But the only thing they saw when they turned at the sound of the hatch finally closing, was Rodney looking at them with his head cocked to the side in momentary confusion before he went completely limp and fell to the floor of the craft with a thud.

_He watched the long pole with the bladed point fly slowly through the air. It was clear what the intentions were behind it being thrown but he was confused as to the motivation. It made a clean arc through the air towards him, but the spear didn't even get close when it was stopped in its track as if it had struck a solid object, then fell harmlessly to the ground below. Then, he turned to look at the place in which he stood that was currently moving through the air. It was a flying room, vibrant in colour with light that shone from lines within the walls, mesmerizing him. What those lines were, he had no idea, but they pulsed and flowed and he followed the movement of the light within them until his eyes fell upon the other things in the flying room. There were three inhabitants, each very different than what he thought they should be, each incredibly fascinating. In what he considered the head, he saw sparks of light which flowed through a thousand fold myriad of vessels within their bodies, not unlike his own kin, but in different form. And they were speaking, but their words held no meaning for him, their speech alien and confusing. One was attending another whose internal fluid was leaking from a wound in his head, the third appeared to be the one controlling the flying room. But they were slow, so very slow in every way, it confused him. Their movements took so long to complete it baffled him as to how they could possibly be alive. Why did they move and speak in such a sluggish way? And why was the injured one not healing itself? In fact, the entire scene confused him so much that wished to flee the flying room and escape from the strange beings! Then the big door of the flying room closed behind him and his escape route was shut off. The sound of the door closing made two of the inhabitants look towards him, their eyes staring at him strangely. They spoke to him but he had no idea what they were saying, their words drawn out into long low noises that were indecipherable. It was too much to take in and as the smaller inhabitant got to its feet to approach him, he felt his heart racing as his eyes closed and he fell to the floor._

"Wha...what happened?" Rodney asked when he opened his eyes to see Teyla looking down at him with a worried expression.

"Is he alright?" He heard John ask from the front of the Jumper.

"Yeah he's fine. Fainted." Ronon replied as he held a wound dressing to the back of his head.

"Ah, just the usual then?"

"Yup."

"I did not!" Rodney's face flushed red with indignation as he sat himself up and pushed them from him. "I was dizzy and fell over as we took off." He lied.

"Course you did." Ronon replied, attempting and failing to hide his smile.

"Oh whatever Cave Man!"

Reaching into the front pouch of his back pack, he pulled out a handful of energy bars then proceeded to stuff one in his mouth. "Shee? Jusht low 'n shuga." He mumbled with a full mouth. "Howsh your head?"

"I'll live. Thanks to Sheppard."

Given what he had seen of the two's virtually non existent relationship, Rodney was surprised that Ronon acknowledged John at all. Even John seemed surprised as he glanced briefly over his shoulder. The Jumper passed through the gate then materialized in the Atlantis gate room, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. It had been a hell of a mission to be his first, and as the others chatted away, Rodney sat in quiet reflection over the very strange dream he had experienced when he had passed out. It unsettled him as he was nearly one hundred percent sure that he had been awake throughout it, yet he could not possibly have been. He remembered the strange images of Teyla, John and Ronon and how peculiar they had looked to him, how strange they had sounded. And the Jumper itself, how it had shone brightly and how the electrical cables through it had glowed and pulsed. How slow everything had been, especially his team mates, surely it had been a dream? But he put it down to his own time slowing down as he passed out, there was no other logical explanation, really. After all he had blacked out as the hatch was closing, perhaps it was some strange quirk of his mind shutting down, that he had imagined it all entirely. He had missed breakfast in his haste to join the team and be back on off world missions, the excitement of which had carried him through the day until his body decided that he could not live on adrenaline alone and reminded him of the importance of eating. This is what he told himself had happened; that he had suffered a hypoglycemic attack due to his stupidity. And he would tell the same to anyone who asked what had happened.

The Jumper came to a stop in the Jumper bay and Rodney stuffed another energy bar in his mouth as he gathered up his things. He could not shake the feeling that something was wrong, yet he could not, _would_ not jeopardize his reintegration back onto the team because of one stupid daydream. So he pushed the dream, if indeed that had been what it had been, to the back of his mind and tried to forget it.

_TBC..._

 


	8. 8

The alarm clock on his bedside table began to beep loudly. He lazily opened one eye then reached to turn off the noise, his hand clumsily swatting the clock, knocking it to the floor where it continued its incessant noise. It would eventually stop, he thought as he rubbed a hand over his face, scratching the day old growth on his chin. Groaning, he stretched out his limbs before arching his back, which cracked loudly, before sighing and sagging back onto the bed and closing his eyes again. The alarm finally stopped its beeping and the room fell silent, save for the ticking of the clock. His mind was groggy, still under the numbing effects of the medicine he had taken the night before and he was loathed to get up, wishing he could sleep just a little bit longer. But the noise and discomfort in his mind was just beginning to become perceptible again and he knew that before lunchtime, it would be loud and irritating.

It never ceased, the humming noise and the scratching sensation that he felt at the base of his skull. If anything, it was becoming more intense and there were times when he had to stop what he was doing to simply breathe through the confusion and irritation the noise and sensation caused him. Last night, the discomfort had become so intense that he had feigned a stomach upset during dinner, simply so that he could take some sedatives and go to bed early. Rendering himself medicinally unconscious had become a simple reprieve from the noise and the feelings inside his mind. Of course, another welcoming side effect of the sedatives was that he didn't experience any dreams when he took them.

It was the dreams that disturbed him more than the scratching and noise in his head, and they were becoming more frequent and unnerving as the months passed. In his dreams, he was always standing in an alien landscape that he knew for a fact he had never seen before. It was a relatively barren place that burned with blue flames which randomly burst from the blackened earth explosively and continuously. Rivers of what appeared to be blue lava snaked over the terrain as lightning criss crossed the sky above the seemingly volcanic mountains in the distance. Creatures occasionally came from below the ground to walk the terrain, and despite the dream nearly always being the same, the one thing that changed often was the how far away the creatures were from him. They had started far off in the distance at the foot of a huge volcano, but they drew closer until last week, one of the creatures stood mere meters before him. For the first time, he could see the details of the creature and how very strange these beings actually were. Tall and thin, they had blue and black mottled skin and large yellow eyes with strange slitted pupils. Vaguely humanoid in shape, they seemed to prefer walking on all fours, but would stand tall when at rest. As the creature had come so close, he had also been able to make out an almost invisible blue layer of...something...that hovered above the creatures skin by almost centimeter, encompassing its entire body in what he thought could be a natural force field. It made sense, creatures that roamed such a dangerous terrain must have some kind of protection after all. But they were dreams and he had no idea where such dreams had come from. He didn't possess the kind of imagination that would conjure up fantasies such as what he was experiencing. He could make absolutely no sense of them either as they meant absolutely nothing to him and there appeared to be no discernible hidden meaning in them that he could find. But they did disturb him greatly, more for the fact that they felt more like memories than dreams, yet he had never been to such a place and he was damned sure he would have remembered a creature such as the ones who haunted his sleep. There had been no dream last night owing to the effects of the sedatives, and for that he was glad as he was sure that one night soon, he would come face to face with that strange alien being and he wasn't sure he ever wanted to.

He sighed again and pulled himself into a sitting position, his feet kicking away the hastily removed clothes from the day before. He was being worn down, day by day, by whatever was going on inside his head. He was pretty sure it was a side effect of what the ascension machine had did to him. After all, he had apparently endured what he had been told was an extremely noisy and painful experience, one that he had very little real recollection of, John being the one who had filled him in on much of the events that occurred that day. Perhaps the intense noise during the incident had damaged his ears and this was where the noise in his mind came from. He might even have suffered some kind of brain damage, which might explain the strange feeling he sometimes felt in his head. So, he thought that perhaps these annoyances were the price of getting his body back to normal, and if they were, he would eventually gladly deal with them, if they didn't drive him insane beforehand.

Before leaving the dinner table last night, he had promised to grab an early breakfast with the others and despite feeling a little hungover, he would make sure he was there to meet them on time. Having been off the team because of the accident, he was never going to give anyone any reason to take him off it again. The many months of working mostly alone and at half capacity was not something that Rodney ever wanted to have to do again. So no matter how he felt or what he thought, he would make sure that everyone saw him as a determined, fit and healthy individual, and a very important member of the team that he saw as his family.

When he finally actually looked at the clock lying on its side on the floor, he realised he only had fifteen minutes to get ready and down to the mess hall and he cursed the fact that he had sat daydreaming for the past thirty minutes. Launching off the bed, he decided to shower and shave later, hastily washing himself from a basin filled with lukewarm water. He was dressed and out the door five minutes later, muttering angrily to himself as he ran the corridors to the mess hall.

He needn't have bothered hurrying as he found that he was the first of the team to arrive, so he gathered up a less than healthy but rather large breakfast and set himself down to wait on the others. The sedatives made him hungry in the morning and he quickly began to devour the pile of eggs, bacon and sausages before him, wanting the plate to be a little less full by the time any of the others arrived. He had managed to eat half of his food when the first of his teammates entered. Teyla walked smoothly into the mess hall, looking as fresh and graceful as ever and Rodney felt a little embarrassed that she could look so good after a nights sleep when he couldn't even be bothered shaving. Her eyes sparkled when she saw him, her smile wide and genuine. She grabbed a fruit juice and a slice of toast before making her way over to sit in the chair beside him.

"Good morning Rodney, I take it that you are feeling better this morning?" She said, her eyes flicking towards his still rather full plate.

"Uh yes, much better thank you. In fact, it has left me rather more hungry than usual." He offered what he hoped would be seen as a valid explanation for the amount of food he had, glad that she had not seen the plate when he had first loaded it.

"I'm glad you are feeling better. It is best to eat well before a mission, as you do not know when you might return from it or have the chance to eat again, but not so much as to slow you down during the mission."

Some might have taken her words as an offhand chastisement, giving that she nibbled on a piece of toast that was obviously more than enough fuel for her lithe frame, but Rodney knew Teyla was not one to make judgement on others and that she had merely stated a fact with no jibes intended.

A few minuted later, John and Ronon walked in, both looking mildly awkward as they walked closer to each other than anyone had seen them do for a long time. Ronon's thick hair was tied back in a slack pony tail, the wound on his head having been cleansed and closed by Carson when they had returned from Gulyna. He looked the same as always, dark, brooding and thoughtful while his eyes were ever alert. John wore a slightly less sombre face than he had of late, a hint of a happier Sheppard finally beginning to shine from his cheeky eyes. They both grabbed some breakfast and sat down at the table in the chairs opposite Rodney and Teyla.

"I still say that you have a damned cockerel cooped up in your room Rodney, I've never known you to get to breakfast before any of us."

"Har har. No cockerel, just an impeccably timed internal clock." He lied with a smug grin.

"Yeah, I'm sure." John said as he stirred his coffee. "Anyway, I have a message for you all. I only got it this morning but it has been in the system for a few days already." He placed the tablet he had been carrying on the table, holding it up so that all could see the video message, then pressed play.

At first, all they could see was a large mouth filled with sharp teeth until Bann pulled back from the video messenger and filled the screen with his huge furry head. John smiled even though he had already watched the message, because seeing the excitement in Bann made him happy. Bann's large ears were pointing straight up and forward while his smiling eyes looked into the camera as if he could actually see them sitting around the table.

" _Greetings mine best favoured friends! Know I that your visit next to Muo isn't a while to come, but must I had to send this to you and get you here sooner. Great honoured son of mine, Horii, he be wedding in great celebration in a few days! Honoured and grateful I be and mine lady, if happy you could come and join us? It be good yes? Can come you, yes? Horii would most be happy if come you! Great, great many celebration of honoured sons wedding! Meetur John, Meetur Rodney, Meetur Ronon and Meesi Teyla, come come! Be happy with us!"_

The message ended and John laid the tablet down on the table then lifted his mug.

"You know, it could be just what we need." Rodney said as he forked food into his mouth then pointed said fork towards the screen from which Bann had faded. "A Muoan wedding is apparently quite spectacular. A day of nothing to worry about other than what we are going to eat or drink next? Sounds like a good day to me!"

"You want to go? I didn't think it was your kind of thing." John said between sips of hot coffee.

"Not my kind of thing." Rodney replied, looking at John as if he had just sprouted another head. "Our good friend, who lives on a planet renowned for its gastronomical extravagance, has invited us to his son's wedding. Why would that not be my kind of thing?"

"Right...so if I placed a platter of Muoan food on the ground of say, Casmic 9, you'd be there like a shot?"

"Cas...Casmic?! Are you insane?" Rodney spluttered. "There would be no food on the platter nor much left of you if you tried. Casmic hounds ring any bells? Though why they are called hounds is beyond me. Ever seen a hound with...?" He stopped talking when he realised John was simply teasing him. "Oh har har. Very funny."

"I agree with Rodney, I think it would be lovely to join the celebration. Bann has, after all, invited us, non Muoans, to a Muoan wedding. That in itself is a great honour and I think a refusal to attend would offend him."

"So that's it then, we attend Horii's wedding?" John wanted verification from them all, as Ronon was yet to voice an opinion.

"Sounds good." The big Satedan said as he stuffed a piece of bacon in his mouth and licked his fingers. "I've missed the ale." He said, the statement emphasizing how long it had been since he had visited Muo with them.

"Like I said, this message has been in the system a few days and owing to missions, I only managed to see it this morning."

"So?" Rodney asked as he chewed on a final piece of sausage.

"So, the wedding is today."

"But we've..."

"Yes, we are expected at Taui. But, thanks largely to Major Lorne stepping in, Woosley has arrange it so we can all go to Muo instead."

"Awesome." Grunted Ronon disinterestedly, yet the smile at the corners of his mouth told he was more happy than he was letting on.

"Well at least we do not have to pander to the Tauian mayor. Last time I was sure that Ronon would hit him for the amount of "civil requests" he placed upon us." Teyla smiled.

"Hey! John you do realise it will be full Muoan dress code to this?" Rodeny said, a smile tugging at his lips. "I mean, it's a wedding and as such, tradition dictates it!"

"Wait, the message says nothing about full Muoan dress! There is no way..." John faltered when Teyla placed her hand on his.

"I think Rodney is having a joke at your expense, John." She smiled. "Anyway, only Muoans are allowed to wear full Muoan dress."

John huffed, glad that he would not have to strip down to his underwear and wear a feather topped crown of preposterous sizing while covering his stomach with a huge belt adorned with God knew what. So they all finished up breakfast, and with great haste left the table, promising to meet in an hour in the jumper room for journey to Muo.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Security was tighter than they had ever seen it on their frequent visits to Muo. Many fully clad Muoan warriors known as the Muin, stood sentry around the landing bays. An impressive and imposing presence, they stood as still as statues, their silent static presence almost benign, unless you knew of their famed ferocious and deadly abilities. Tall and muscular, the Muin were suited up in their finest, highly polished armour covering their well groomed furred bodies, holding their lethal Kuntash spears in a tight grip of readiness. If they were to be compared to any earthly warrior, they could be seen as similar to the often fantasized Japanese Shinobi culture, their stealth and preternatural abilities famed throughout the system. If there was ever a force that John was glad to have on his side, it was these silent killers.

"I wasn't aware that Bann was so important." Ronon muttered as they made their way through the busy streets towards the wedding venue, his sharp eyes clocking each and every Muin member, both hidden and in plain sight, knowing that he most likely hadn't even seen half of them.

"What? You thought he was a simple shop owner? Bann Kalisat is the leader of one of the most prominent families on Muo, I thought you knew that." John replied.

"Nope. Do now." Was Ronon's only reply but it warmed Teyla's heart to see that they were at least trying to get along at last.

The closer they got to the venue, the busier it became. Highly overdressed and obviously important people were hurrying in the same direction, each wanting to be ahead of the other for the chance to be first to the great celebration that seemed to have attracted the entire Muoan population.

It was as they were about half way to the doors that a large strong furry hand fell on John's shoulder and the group stopped to see who it was. A towering Muin, the lower part of his face covered in an ornate metal mask, looked down on John and the others with an intense gaze that spoke more of his strength than the deadly Kuntash held to his side.

"Apologies for not sooner retrieving you, much busy in town as can see you. With me you will come, Bann be waiting." His low growling voice was mildly entrancing and they followed him without question.

He led them to a door off the beaten path, from which burst a jovial and laughing Bann, in full Muoan dress, quite obviously delighted at the arrival of his human friends.

"Aiiii! Most welcome! MOST welcome are you! Meetur Rodney! On legs you come! Fine fine you all are! Come! Come! Waiting for you have been we all! Come! Meet Horii and his almost bride!" Bann ushered them in with a huge sweeping arc of his arms, leaving the Muin behind to stand guard at the door.

They had never been inside the town hall before, and even if it had not been so beautifully decorated for the wedding, the beauty of it all would still not have been lost on them. The hall itself was bigger than the jumper bay hanger, a huge space decorated with elaborate carvings on wooden panels that covered the walls and the ceiling. The wooden panels depicted different eras of Muoan history, great battles or historic occurrences that were important to the Muoan people. The carvings were exquisite and John found himself more interested in seeing them than the wedding itself. The space was now further decorated with feather displays and statuettes of Bann and his family in different stages of their lives, each as strong and beautiful as the next. Small fountains of different types of alcohol were set up on tables beside hundreds of glasses and tankards, ready for the celebration after the wedding. Bann led them to the wedding party where Horii and his bride to be welcomed them as if they were long lost friends. Horii hugged each of them in turn in a tight embrace as his fiancee nodded her head and shook their hands with a delicate touch so unexpected from such large hands. Bann clapped and bellowed loudly above the bustling crowd of people, his voice carrying perfectly to every ear in the hall owing to the perfectly balanced acoustics of the room.

"Thanking all who have here come, would seating be taken to allow the ceremony begin." His words started a mass movement of bodies as everyone made their way to their seats for the start of the wedding ceremony.

It seemed as if the entire planet had come together in the town hall as John and the others sat tightly, shoulder to shoulder in the seating arrangements that had them face the main stage on which stood the wedding party. The ceremony itself was filled with traditional sentiments and promises, often seen at weddings universe wide, except instead of a "you may now kiss the bride" statement, it ended in what was a more animalistic bonding in which both the bride and groom gnawed a personal pattern into each others long ears in an equal statement of possession and love of each other. The newly wedded couple then turned to the watching crowd and raised their heads, both beginning to howl together, their voices melodic and in perfect harmony. Rodney covered his ears and John almost did the same when every other Muoan in the room raised their voices to join in the ending of the ceremony and the noise was deafening.

The wedding over, it was time to celebrate and the Muoans celebrated in style. Rodney's eyes almost came out of their sockets as he watched the food being brought in from the kitchens and John laughed as he watched the scientist licking his lips unconsciously. There was more food laid out on the tables than the Atlantis kitchen could produce in a month, as varied and colourful as they had seen in a long time. While Rodney jumped straight in, grabbing a plate and proceeding to fill it with everything he could lay his hands on, John took some time to enjoy the happy atmosphere. A simple pleasure, enjoying the happiness of others, reminded him that the simple things in life were what truly mattered most at the end of the day. Money might decorate a hall, but it could not buy the love he could see in Horii's eyes nor the pride in Bann's face. The simple things, he thought, were what made life worthwhile.

As the night progressed, the revelries became loud and joyous as the Muoans celebration reached its height. Rodney, having eaten so much he felt he might burst, excused himself and disappeared from the hall. John asked Teyla to dance and they both made their way to the dance floor and easily showed the other guests that they could celebrate as well as anyone with their light steps and graceful movements. Ronon sat and enjoyed his much missed favorite ale, his eyes becoming softer and more content with every gulp of the sweet thick substance. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves as the celebration carried on late into the night. The music from the live band and the noise from the crowd was so loud that it was a miracle that the Muin was heard at all when he first shouted above the noise. Then, unease at his presence spread through the crowd and the band ceased playing in order to allow the Muin to speak. Some people began to panic, for a Muin simply does not act in this manner for no reason and speculative whispers and cries of fear began to spread through the crowd. Then the Muin's voice sounded again, loud and strong, a voice that John recognised from earlier in the night. It was the Muin who had directed them to Bann, and he struck his Kuntash on the ground in an attempt to claim order of the panicking crowd.

"Cease this noise! Calm you should be! Allow me not this to sully the celebrations. I call on Bann-Sagee and his Atlantean companions attentions of all. Following me you will be."

Bann-Sagee, John noted, was Bann's official title. It was used in respect and honour, but also called in times of disruption so that all knew who was in ultimate command. Bann made his way towards the Muin, John, Teyla and Ronon following amid the questioning stares of the other guests who then turned away as the band began to play their loud music, the celebration starting again as if there had not been any interruption.

"Sanac, what meaning is of this?!" Bann asked his personal trusted Muin as they left the crowded area.

"Forgive me Bann-Sagee, my apologies greatest at disturbing great honoured celebration. Utmost respect but none the less required disruption of great honoured celebration required. An incident occurred has been, an incident which shocked even me has."

Sanac, removing the ornate half mask by pulling it down to rest beneath his chin, looked squarely in Banns eyes, his mouth twisted in self loathing. It was clear that this act was not a usual occurrence, simply by Bann's reaction. The great Muoan stared angrily at Sanac, for the removal of the mask signified that the Muin had somehow failed in his guardianship of the celebrations that Bann had trusted him with.

"Forgive me Bann-Sagee, an occurrence of terrible type...I failed you."

As John and the others bore witness to the interaction, he could not work out why he, Teyla and Ronon would have been summoned to what appeared to be a failure in the Muin ranks. What possible reason could there be for them to be somehow involved with the disruption of a Muoan wedding? It was with a sudden stab of fear that John noted that Rodney was not with them. He remembered the scientist leaving the hall, burping and rubbing his stomach, saying that he needed some air. It was with growing trepidation that John thought that something might have happened to Rodney, that Sanac was here to tell them that Rodney has fallen ill or something worse. But he was not prepared for what Sanac led them to.

In the town square, the bustling crowd had been milled down to nothing, the place now eerily quiet and empty of all except a square of Muin who stood facing outward, as if guarding something important and secret within their configuration. Sanac nodded at the nearest Muin, who nodded back in return and stepped aside to allow them through. At first John was not sure what he was looking at. It appeared as if some of the partying crowd had become so drunk that they had sat or fallen down. There was around twenty of them, some slumped against another, others were flat on their backs or stomach. But it soon became clear that these were not party goers as he noticed that their armour glinted ominously beneath the street lights. He then saw the darkened puddles of wetness that exuded from some, and the awkward angles of the limbs of others. He realised then that what he was looking at was the massacre of some of the most elite fighting force this side of the Pegasus galaxy, and that awareness brought with it a feeling of terror. John and the others stared in horror at the slaughter before them, not fully seeing what Sanac meant them to see.

"Carsak merlundi gus tanyak." Sanac said in Muoan tongue.

Bann's head whipped round to stare hard at Sanac, his body rigid with tension. "Tanyak?" He asked then faced forward and inhaled through his nose a great breath of air, smelling a scent that made his eyes snap open again and a growl sound loudly from his throat.

"Tanyak!" He screeched before raising his head to howl into the night, his voice joined by each of the Muin standing guard of their fallen comrades. As the howl petered into whimpers of sadness and grief, John and the others finally noticed the solitary standing figure within the formation to the right of them. Rodney McKay turned from the slaughter to stare at them, his clothes drenched with blood, his face a picture of shock and fear. Rodney looked more terrified as John had ever seen him, standing there with a look of confusion as he stared at his bloodied clothes and hands.

"John?" Rodney croaked, and the sound of his voice seemed to break the grief in Bann as the large Muoan sped towards him, his large hands grabbing Rodney's jacket and pulling him close.

"See what you? Meetur Rodney! See what you?!" He growled at Rodney, who looked as if he was about to pass out.

Sanac ran forward and pulled Bann from the shaking scientist as John rushed to take hold of their terrified friend, pulling him close as Ronon and Teyla stood guard in front of them.

"He no be Tanyak Bann-Sagee, he not of knowing what happened either too." Sanac soothed Bann whose teeth were bared menacingly as he looked back over the slaughter of his most trusted guard, some of whom had been his family.

Rodney whimpered and trembled in John's arms and he tried to impart some kind of comfort, but how could he comfort a man who appeared to have borne witness to such a massacre? And what manner of beast was this Tanyak, he thought, that had been able to not just kill, but slaughter some of the most powerful beings John had ever known. He shuddered at the thought of what kind of beast this Tanyak could be.

"Sanac! Here take all to mine house. Now. Guard stand until I return. Not letting any leave your sight or any person in either too. Protect them on oath as sacred Muin, Sanac, death befall you if you don't." His final words were more than a dark statement, they were part of Muin tradition, which in this case stood as a reaffirmation that Sanac still held Bann's full trust.

Sanac bowed reverently before Bann and raised his mask from his chin to once again cover the lower part of his face. He motioned for John and the others to follow him, leading them out of the guarded area, silent and alert. Bann stayed behind, roaring orders at the remaining Muin, shouldering the role he was most famed for; Bann-Sagee Kalisat, Most Honorable Protector Warrior of Muo.

_TBC... Feed me!_

 


	9. 9

Bann's house was surprisingly small. It seemed that the gentle giant did not go for the ostentatious extravagance that a lesser man in his position might do, living a simple ordinary life far removed from what his stature would normally dictate. Despite the fact that they were to have spent the night here anyway, the team felt like they were trespassing on Bann's privacy as Sanac showed them the house. The troubled Muin checked the security of the house even though he had already stationed guards outside, but given what had happened earlier, he hardly trusted even himself to guarantee the safety of these humans. As Teyla led Rodney towards a large couch in what was the living room, Sanac retreated to a shadowed part of the room and stood silently in the dark, observing and vigilant.

Rodney allowed Teyla to sit him down on the couch, where he shook uncontrollably while gibbering rubbish, both traumatized and in great shock. He would mumble for a few minutes before crying out in bursts of heightened emotion and fear that pained the others to see him suffer. Teyla tried to soothe him, but he didn't seem to be able to hear her words, in fact, he didn't seem to know that any of them were there at all as he looked straight ahead with wide horror filled eyes that rarely blinked. After fifteen minutes of this, his shaking increased and a sheen of sweat burst over his forehead. Seeing this, Ronon took off his coat and placed it over Rodney's shoulders, only to look on with fright as the colour drained quickly from the man's face before he slipped sideways onto the couch, slack jawed and vacant looking. The sight alarmed Teyla who queried whether the blood on his clothes was actually his own from an injury they did not know of. But John, having seen Rodney experience a hypoglycemic attack too many times to count, reassured her as he automatically reached into his pocket and pulled out the emergency hypo kit he carried in case of this very situation. He had almost lost McKay on a mission to an extreme sugar low, and had made sure he always carried the glucose syringe kit in case he was ever faced with it again. Kneeling beside Rodney, he opened the kit and pushed the thin needle into McKay's upper arm, slowly pressing the contents of the syringe into his bloodstream. Despite the amount of food he must have consumed at the party, John knew that Rodney had experienced something so traumatic that he had probably used up his energy just to get through it and the resultant shock must have robbed him of his last vestiges of energy, sending his blood sugar levels plummeting into his boots. When some colour came back into his cheeks, John sighed, placed a cushion beneath Rodney's head and pulled Ronon's coat over him like a blanket.

"Best let him sleep for a while." John muttered as he got to his feet, placing the spent syringe back into the hypo kit for disposal.

He sighed unhappily, biting at his lower lip as he wondered how the hell such a joyous occasion had become the horror show which they now found themselves part of. How had Rodney McKay found himself in the midst of the unexplained carnage, standing as the sole survivor of an attack from some kind of assailant that placed fear in the eyes of Bann and Sanac, the strongest people he knew?

He watched as Ronon paced the floor like a hungry animal, growing more agitated and angry the more he had to listen to the terrified whispers and mumbles that left Rodney's lips as he slept. He saw Teyla gently lift Rodney's head and placed it upon her knees as she sat down next to him, her eyes glistening with tears as she stroked his head like she would her son's when trying to sooth him from a nightmare.

He watched his team, coming apart at the seams for a reason he was not sure of as he himself became increasingly distressed at the thought of what Rodney had witnessed. He turned to look at Sanac, who appeared as if he had become a mere statue clad in armor, like a polished showpiece of protection that held no emotion or feeling towards the scene before it. The Muin neither blinked or looked at him from the darkness, continuing to stare ahead, completely unaffected by the pacing, the tears or the frightened whispers. Irritated at the cold and unmoving being, John tore off his dinner jacket and threw it on one of the couches before striding up to Sanac to stand before him.

"What is a Tanyak?" He asked, becoming even more irritated when Sanac did not reply.

The Muin appeared to ignore him, remaining silent for a long time and John was just about to shout the question when Sanac's deep voice sounded, low and bitter and filled with anger as he took a step back into the light.

"A demon be it. A creature vile. Scourge of days olden believed to been long time gone."

John stared at him, waiting on more.

"Tanyak a Muoan word be, in tongue of yours and others, it be known more as a Nenec. Planet far once off, Nenec known not to wander from own far planet. Nenec destroyed, ohhh many times long gone by Muoan fathers and mothers great long gone. Nenec extinct meant to be. Muoan fathers and mothers fought side along the mighty Atlantean leaders to make Nenec extinct. Scourge, demon, gone long memory, but here tonight."

John was sure he could detect a flicker of fear in those large dark eyes and if Sanac held fear for these creatures, John felt bloody well terrified. He had seen with is own eyes what these Nenec creatures did to many a big broad Muin assassin, and it made him sick to think of such a power being loose not just in the city, but anywhere.

"Why were your ancestors and the ancients so intent on exterminating the Nenec if they rarely left their own planet?" He asked.

"Nenec discovered planets other, held fuel more than own. Devoured planets for it. Scourge as large as Wraith be now."

"How many do you think were here tonight?"

"Single one Tanyak Nenec." Sanac replied, sending chills through John's body. One, solitary Nenec had killed all of those Muin? That statement alone stopped Ronon in his pacing.

"What do they look like, what are their strengths and weaknesses?" The Satedan growled from across the room.

"Blackest as night, with blue fire scaling, yellow eyes with slits not round black. Walk large tall on two, walk large low on four and weakness none."

"No weaknesses? Come on, surely there is a way to kill these things? You said they were nearly extinct!"

"Yes, extinct we thought told, evidently but not. Muoan fathers and mothers and mighty Atlanteans, destroyed Nenec planet homeworld, T'ny'k." Sanac finally moved his eyes to look at John, dark pits that bore into him with that fear he had seen present once more. "Took T'ny'k be to destroyed to kill Nenec. Other way never was found, annihilation way only to rid of scourge."

John looked towards Ronon who stared back with a look not often found on his face; fear. Here they were faced with a creature that no one had ever found a way to kill, not even the Ancients had found a way, other than to destroy the planet the creatures lived on. Not just that, but this creature was so strong and powerful that it had apparently been a single Nenec that had completely devastated a group of powerful, experienced Muin warriors. John's eyes fell on Rodney's sleeping form and once again he asked himself the question, why was Rodney still alive?

"Pray thanks be, that Meetur Rodney be only small. He been had kneeling behind Nalli Kalisat's body, lost probably in fight, might it been of saving his life." Sanac said as if he had read John's mind.

"We have to get back to Atlantis." John said, grabbing his jacket and pulling it on.

Sanac placed a hand on John's shoulder to stop him, bringing Ronon to John's side in an instant. No matter what Ronon might have intended, Sanac looked anything but intimidated.

"Nowhere tonight be you going Meetur John. Bann-Sagee placed you under care of me. Here safe be for night."

"But there might be information on the Atlantis database about these Nenec, and Rodney needs to be seen by our doctor!"

"When Bann-Sagee say let go you, then only I let go you." Sanac said, dropping his hand from John's shoulder as he disappeared back into the darkness. "Safe here be Meetur John, on word of mine as Muin Warrior, here safe be all you for night."

John quietly despaired as he finally took a seat to wait on Bann, hoping that he would not be gone for very long.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o

_His second wakening was less confusing than his first. This time he felt as if there was more of him, what this meant he was not entirely sure, but he felt more alive, more whole than he had the last time he had woken. He found himself in a completely different place than before, the flying room had been replaced by a strange town that he was sure he recognised but did not quite know how._

_He was walking upright, down a path that was lined with towering furred beasts and something about them scared him. It wasn't until he had passed by the forth beast that a memory began to surface in his confused mind that stopped him in his tracks, his keen eyes staring at the fifth creature ahead of him, recognizing the patterns of light he could see dancing in its head._

_Then in a moment of clarity that struck him hard, he remembered what these beasts were and where he thought he was probably standing. He shook his head as many more memories began to flood his mind and he walked to the centre square of land and sat down, holding his head as the awful truth hit him._

_These creatures, he knew them because he had seen them storm his village and had learned of them through his Kin-fa and Kin-ma. These huge beasts had been part of the force that had attacked his planet, leaving only his family and too few others that had been able to flee before his planet was completely destroyed. The longer he sat there, the more memories surfaced and soon he found himself remembering more than he wanted to._

_He remembered the day his Kin-fa told him the truth of why they kept themselves hidden from others. He told him of other creatures hatred of his kind, the reason why they were hunted to almost extinction. His father had told him of the importance of hiding, and the importance of splitting up the remaining survivors. There were not many of them left, but those who remained had sworn to one day avenge the death of their entire civilization, by growing stronger throughout the galaxy before joining forces to strike a deadly blow at their murderers._

_Memories were flowing fast through his mind now, and he remembered his Kin-ma and her songs of the planet they had been forced to flee, her voice singing of the great lakes of fire and the warm earth they had once lived beneath. He could almost smell the air of his home world and felt great sorrow at not being able to ever go there again._

_With tears in his eyes, he remembered the day the Ring Makers had finally discovered his family's hiding place, and how they were all held captive in a terrible beam of fire. He remembered the way in which their captors had disposed of his Kin-ma and Kin-fa before his very eyes as he was walled up in the beam of blue flames that did not burn him, but contained him. He watched as his Kin were hurled into space, floating away to die a horrible death, into a cold dark grave for eternity and he vowed then that if he should survive, he would kill every last being involved in the destruction of his species. He vowed that he would find the remnants of his once huge population in hopes that they had multiplied enough to form an army to show the galaxy that they would not be thrown into oblivion by the hands of anyone._

_As he sat there, he went to wipe a tear from his eye and stopped to stare at his hand, realizing it wasn't his hand at all. These were little hands, with nails instead of claws, thin white skin instead of leathery black scaled skin! He had wondered why the furred beasts looked so big, it was because he was smaller, this was not his body! It took him some time to remember the final atrocity forced upon him and when it hit him, he vomited at his side, his memory complete in all it's terrible glory._

_He had been forced to stay in the beam of blue fire, crying for the loss of his family while trying to escape the blue beam that held him in place. As they moved him from one ship to another, he pleaded for his life, but no one listened to his cries. Instead, once in their magnificent city, they placed him upon a large raised square beneath some type of array, keeping him in the center while they pressed buttons on their contraptions that held no meaning for him. Then it was with a scream of terror and complete agony that he felt his body disintegrate, piece by piece from his feet upwards, feeling as if he was being ripped apart cell by bloody cell._

_Then he woke up, in a flying ship, with creatures he had never seen before. But this mind he was now in was perfectly full of all kinds of information, and he found he could easily access it. So he accessed that information and pieced together what had happened to him and how he came to be in this body, and also, he discovered that he knew exactly what planet he was on now and what its inhabitants were._

" _Meetur Rodney, ok are you?"_

_He nodded his head and got back to his feet, turning to look into the huge Muin's eyes. He watched as the warriors eyes opened wide, knowing what it was the beast was seeing before him. He knew his eyes were glowing, knew that he was growing larger by the moment and that the light within him was shining through these unfamiliar eyes. As he used his own and this "Meetur Rodney's" knowledge, he set forth a violent change in this strange body that would allow him to bring forth his own natural state and within seconds, the first Nenec seen on Muo for centuries, was as huge and fearsome as they had been reported to be and was tearing bloody shreds out of the huge Muoan before him._

_As soon as the first went down, the alarm went out and soon there was at least twenty more of the filthy abominations attacking him but he pulled on his deepest strength and became what his Kin-fa had been before him, a hell-nen, feared warrior of T'ny'k. One after another a Muoan was cut to shreds as he bellowed and exacted his first revenge on the flesh of the beasts descended from those who killed his own and he felt the blue fire rage through his body, allowing him to kill more than he had thought possible. Their screams and his roars filled the air as his thirst for blood went on unabated and mighty Muin Warriors fell beneath claws and teeth and brute force._

_Then, suddenly, he felt his strength fade, as if someone had simply pulled the plug on his energy and soon he was loosing the ability to keep his shape, reverting back to the body in which he had awoken. His thirst to kill was unabated and although he tried to force this stupid body to move again, he knew he was losing control and slipping back into darkness. As he faded away, he wondered if he would ever have the chance to come forth again, dearly wishing that he would._

_He was Daraal S'unu't after all, Hell-nen of T'ny'k, and he would have his revenge._

_It was then that Rodney blinked and looked around himself, seeing nothing but bloody slabs of flesh and fur strewn around him in dark pools of thick cooling blood. He watched as one Muin dragged his torn body closer, reaching for a hold of Rodney's leg and he was too terrified to move. He saw fleeting images pass through his mind that made him numb with terror, had he done this? It seemed as if it could had been as in the images shifting through his mind, he could see his own hands, but_ not _his own hands ripping through soft flesh. He could not understand what his mind was showing him, was it him that did this or not? If indeed these images where real, WHY had he done this?! Why had he awoken to find his hands tearing through the stomach of a Muin? Why did he relentlessly claw at the spine of a Muin warrior as if his very life depended on it? Why was he now standing in a pile of bodies that he himself had apparently built, one of which had been a friend he had shared lunch with? Rodney felt his mind come unhinged as he tried to make sense of the images in his mind and when the dying Muin finally managed to grab hold of his leg, Rodney's brain almost shut down as he watched the fading life behind the Muin's dark eyes._

" _Meetur Rodney...tell them...Nenec" He had said with his final breath and Rodney knelt beside the body of Nalli Kalisat as the big Muin's eyes closed in finality._

_"Nenec...nenec...nenec..." He repeated the word over and over. Even when Sanac, Bann's trusted guard tried to make him stop, he continued to screech the word until his throat became sore and his mouth, dry.  
_

_When Sanac left to find help, Rodney found himself within a formation of Muin guards, many of whom could barely look at him, and he stood there for a long time, rooted to the spot as blood dried on his hands and clothes.  
_

_Hearing a noise he turned to see John, Teyla, Ronon, Sanac and Bann, staring at him. He could see the horror on their faces, the disgust and revulsion in their eyes and the moment he spoke John's name, Rodney McKay's mind simply shattered into a million fragments of pain and confusion._

_TBC...Feed meh cookie comments!_


	10. 10

These were not his dreams.

As Rodney's body recovered from the shock and recent hypoglycemic attack, his mind struggled to make sense of everything he had encountered, but what it showed him was nothing that he had ever personally experienced.

_He stood on a hillside, looking down over a landscape of blue fire and thick bubbling lava streams. He could see so much more than he might have done with his own eyes (but these were his eyes!). There was a haze in the air from the heat in the ground that made the landscape shimmer before him. He could see the other creatures, his family (that was not his family!) as they bounded over the blackened earth, jumping agilely over mounds and pockets of flames. The smaller one (his mother?) was waving at him to join them and he took off at speed across the land to run along side them. They jumped into the air to then drop head first into a cavernous area that led them to a subterranean city (his home?). The elders were meeting and he followed the larger creature (his father?) as he had come of age and was therefore allowed to listen to them speak._

_They rarely left their planet, but in recent cycles it had become a necessity. The time had come for the hunters to leave for the stars to bring home the fuel (fresh meat?! Oh God...) to feed the population of the city. He stared at the Hell-nen as they geared themselves up for the hunt: they were the biggest and most fearsome of the species and even he (Daraal) feared them, but hoped to become one some day. The Hell-nen were ones who had permanently transformed into their largest powerful form, unable to become a simple Nenec again. Though Nenec were formidable anyway, Hell-nen were even more so._

_All Nenec required fuel to feed their internal fires, to regenerate their natural life shields, to allow them to survive on a hostile world that could no longer sustain them. The land long striped of any fuel, they had taken to leaving the planet to hunt and bring the fuel home. They took what they needed, nothing more, as fuel was precious and not to be wasted. Their fuel came in many shapes and sizes, from planets that he might never see, but it all did the same thing: kept them alive._

_The Hell-nen were about to leave for the hunt when the attack came. The scouts from above came tearing into the meeting, speaking of ships from other planets attacking the land. Then the invasion started and strange beings, some tall and thin skinned, others large and fur covered ( I know who they are...) ran through the city deliberately tearing down the support pillars for the ceiling of rock, trying to eliminate all areas of escape. A suicide mission for sure, the Nenec tore almost half of the attackers to pieces. But they bombed the ship storage shelter, taking out as many ships as they could before the remaining troops retreated back to the safety of their own. Planet wide, reports came in of the destruction in all of the major cities. The elders screamed for an immediate evacuation of the city for they had long known that this day would eventually come. The plan had been ingrained in every Nenec since birth; follow the Hell-nen, do as you are told, survive. But they were too late, not enough ships were left to rescue them all._

_As he followed his Kin-fa and Kin-ma running behind the huge Hell-nen, the first of the deliberate cave-ins occurred. The elders were buried alive beneath tons of dark thick earth and the Hell-nen roared for them to hurry. He boarded a ship with around thirty others and took off for the stars. They watched out of the window as four of the alien ships fired a huge light towards a central point, the beams converging into a single blast that hit the planet. His homeworld turned from a dark blue colour to a bright orange as fire tore over its surface, ending only when the planet itself exploded into a billion pieces of space rock. (I can never go home) Theirs was one of only two ships to escape the planet and the cries of anguish that tore from their throats at the sight of their planet being destroyed was enough to_

...waken Rodney momentarily from his fitful sleep, his eyes opening to find himself shivering, his head laid on Teyla's lap as she shushed him. Her fingers soothed the nightmare away and his heavy tired his eyes flickered closed again.

_The Hell-nen dropped them off at various planets with the same instructions to each he left behind; hide, survive, regroup. The planet he and his Kin were placed on, was inhabited by the same species as one of the attackers of his planet; the tall thin skinned ones. They learned to hide quickly, finding refuge in underground caves far less appealing to the city they left behind. Only going out at night to hunt, he and his Kin became masters of disguise and subterfuge in order to survive on a planet full of killers. He had asked his Kin-fa why they were hated and feared so much, to be told it was because the fuel (Oh God! The fuel is living beings!) thought that the Nenec were murderers, killing for more than necessity, never understanding it was purely for survival. When he pointed out that most of the fuel ate other fuel, his Kin-fa explained that a species who thought themselves intelligent and superior, did not eat other species of similar intelligence or stature. That these other supposedly intelligent creatures only ate fuel that was deemed beneath them. He did not understand this of course, fuel was fuel, no matter its intelligence or status._

_Then this one cold night, he cowered in the darkness as different tall (humans) passed by, recognizing them by their rank smell and thin soft skin. They were the same as the ones who had destroyed his home and a growl began to sound in his throat, cut short when his eyes caught sight of his Kin-fa across the road, signaling a silent warning to remain quiet. Then came the scream as his Kin-ma was pulled from her hiding place and of course, Kin-fa would not allow her to be taken alone. He too was caught in the bright beam of flames, some kind of containment shield that held them both confined within it. He could see by the look in his Kin-fa's eyes that he did not want him to break out of hiding, not even if it meant losing them. But when the humans began to drag his Kin away, he could not help but break cover and reach for the nearest, cleanly taking its head from its shoulders with one swipe of his hand. Too late, he noticed the other human, who turned his beam towards him, catching him within its powerful hold, halting his movement. He tried and tried to break from the beam, pushing against it, clawing at it, biting, kicking and throwing himself at it, but the beam of blue flames merely pushed him forward as if the flames were a solid impenetrable mass. He did as his father did, attempting to trigger the change within himself to reach Hell-nen, but he failed, he was too young and weak. But even his father in full Hell-nen mode was unable to break the containment._

_They were taken on board a ship that flew them towards their captors own planet. He could hear their captors gibbering away in a language he did not understand (but I can understand it!). The one he was sure was the leader, shook her head and pointed to the door of the craft. The others seemed to be trying to change her mind ("But they could be useful to our research!"), but she resolutely shook her head and pointed again to the door of the craft ( "We only need one of those things.") Shaking his head, the other raised Kin-fa and Kin-ma into the air and through the first door into an airlock, sealing it closed with a clear barrier that occasionally fizzled with light. He cried out for his Kin and heard them shouting back at him to stay safe and survive. A scream tore from his throat as the human pressed a button that emptied the airlock and he watched as his Kin-fa and Kin-ma were blasted out into space, the beam cutting out, their natural shields failing in the vacuum of space. The airlock closed and he panted choked breaths, hyperventilating and crying for his kin, and he felt the pain of their deaths like a knife through his heart ( but they were not his parents!) The journey to the great floating city took forever, and even once they got there the sight of its beauty was lost on him as they carried him within the beam and into the depths of the towering structure. He passed other humans, saw them shy away from him even though they knew he was contained. They came to room that was almost empty with the exception of an array in the ceiling above a square podium ( the Ascension machine!) and he was placed on the square as the others spoke around him._

_("Calibrated to extract DNA.")_

_("Are you sure we should do this? It is alive after all.")_

_(There is no other way. Please, don't tell me that you harbour some feelings for this thing?")_

_(I don't, no. But it just seems...wrong.")_

_(It will be over quickly, it wont feel a thing.")_

_Then the array above him sparked into life, humming as a new fire force field was formed, a blue streak of light snaking down within it towards him._

_( "I calibrated it to produce the force field while at the same time extracting every piece of DNA and cellular information from this specimen. We will learn from it for the future, the Nenec will never pose a threat to life ever again.")_

_("Its code should be sealed and marked as highly dangerous, we do not want this...thing...regenerated within the city by accident.")_

_("Already done, my friend.")_

_It began as a burning in his feet, his toes tingled and grew hot until sharp pains spread through them and it felt as if each clawed toe was being pulled off. The pain spread up his legs and it was sheer agony, and he found himself screaming before he had even thought to do so. (You are killing me!) He looked down to see his skin peeling away, it and everything beneath becoming nothing but dust like molecules of himself and it floated around him and up into the array above. (wake up wake up wake up!) He screamed and howled in horror and pain as his body was ripped apart while he still lived and breathed and_

...Rodney cried out and tried to sit up but gentle hands held him firm, as a soft voice told him everything would be okay. He tried to fight it but he was so very tired and soon he found himself

_Screaming back out of the array and reforming, coalescing within the blue fire containment field. But something was wrong, he was not alone on the podium. There was another being, struggling within him as he began to take form, someone injured and not quite full._

_Something was terribly wrong, the array was putting out way too much energy, the very air vibrating and humming with the power and he felt himself forced within the struggling being, felt their cells merging and tearing apart only to merge together once more. And then, he knew nothing else for a long, long time, until he woke in the flying room._

Rodney's eyes snapped open and he struggled to breathe, mumbling incoherently, trying to tell Teyla that something was not right, but she did not understand his incomprehensible mutterings and even though he fought to stay awake, he was pulled back into the nightmare that was not his own.

_He felt rage and pain and hurt and anger and it consumed him until he could hardly contain himself as he stood to look at the Muin who had walked up behind him. Oh he could see the worry in the eyes of this beast; whoever he appeared to be now was apparently dear to this Muoan, but he was no longer this "Meetur Rodney" (That's me!) as the beast had called him, he was Daraal (No! I'm Rodney!) the last remaining member of the S'unu't family and this beast before him drove him to the edge of insanity with the loathing he felt for it and all of its kind._

_His mind raced, pulling on his own knowledge as well as the mans he was currently merged with and he remembered healing this body, regenerating the parts that hurt when he first became aware of the injuries this "Meetur Rodney" had suffered. The man had been asleep but Daraal had not been, not that he could really think at that time, but he felt the pain and discomfort and had virtually unconsciously healed that body and soothed it until it became normal, before passing back into the darkness. ( I am disappearing...)_

_But he had healed the injuries and now he knew how he had. Nenec have the natural reflexive ability to heal quickly, an evolutionary quirk that allowed them to stay in such a hostile environment and survive. So with his cells merged with that of this man, it was a simple matter of triggering his own natural healing abilities, which in turn forced the mans own cells to replicate the healing within his injured body._

_If he could do that, then surely he would be able to transform as Nenec do to take the first step to becoming Hell-nen, and start taking his vengeance? As he continued to stare into dark inquiring eyes that he only wished to tear out, he activated the change in his own cells that would make him bigger, stronger and faster than he currently was, to become the embodiment of the fabled demon scourge of T'ny'K. He saw the glow of his own eyes reflected in those of the Muoan, saw himself heighten and change from the feeble human form into a fully fired up Hell-nen, tall and muscular, powerful and deadly. The Muoan did not stand a chance against this surprise attack and fell quickly as his newly formed claws tore through his armor to the soft skin beneath. (NO! Oh God NO!) Reinforcements quickly descended upon him but they no longer looked as large and intimidating as they had earlier, for now they were scared of him and it was he that stood tall and menacing and he relished the look of fright in their eyes. One after another he tore them asunder with the claws on his hands or the teeth in his jaws and he felt powerful, invincible. (Help me, someone!) But he had not known the effects that Hell-nen transformation would have on his body never mind the one he now shared. His internal fires and rage burned quickly through Meetur Rodney's energy and his own disappeared just as quickly, unable to maintain the transformation any longer._

This dream was his own. This dream was a terrible memory he wished to forget.

_Rodney McKay looked at the bloodied scattered corpses that surrounded him and he wanted to scream and run away but could not. He saw the sightless dead eyes and scattered remains of once great warriors, friends and family. Then Nalli Kalisat took hold of his leg and Rodney felt his blood run cold as he struggled to get out of that fading grip, only to_

...waken suddenly and sit bolt upright, startling Teyla and drawing the attention of the others to him. For a moment he looked around the room, not quite knowing where he was but then it hit him, THIS was real, this was reality and he was awake.

"Oh thank God, it was just a dream!" He smiled wide with relief, rubbing his face with his hands (my own hands!) until he noticed the looks on the others faces, the sorrow and anguish. "Not a dream?" He asked, fearful of the reply.

_Blood on his hands! Smeared on his clothes! Oh GOD! BLOOD EVERYHWERE AND..._

"Rodney? Rodney!" John shouted, shaking his shoulders.

He came back to his senses when Ronon clicked his fingers in front of his face. "Not a dream." He grunted before retreating then paced again.

"I...I...what happened? Oh God...oh GOD! It..he...the Muin! The Muin are dead! Nalli! Nalli...he..."

"Died death of Muin Warrior proud." Bann's heavy voice carried across the room as he entered his house looking weary and desolate. "Ahhh Meetur Rodney. So sorry I that you be witnessing such atrocity." Bann threw his bulk down into a chair, Sanac breaking from the darkness to stand beside him. "Heavy heavy heart in all Muoans this night be. Celebration ended in way bad, many tears and bad grief. Muo mourns this night. City is in downed lock friends of mine, but cannot I ask you stay for duration. Must you leave immediately back to big bright city, safer you will be there. I not worry if you gone, in Atlantis be you out of danger."

John approached Bann to stand before him, noting the fact he seemed so very much smaller than he had ever seen him.

"We are so sorry for your loss Bann, if there is anything that we can do to help your people, you need only ask."

Bann waved a tried hand in reply, nodding his head as great tears trickled from his eyes down through his facial fur. "I be not losing friends mine good, you leave soon now, protective guard waiting."

John nodded his head in understanding; Bann's heart was so big that he knew the large furry creature loved him and his team as much if not more than they loved him. John pulled his jacket on, helping Teyla to get Rodney to his feet as Ronon led the way to the door, but they all stopped when Rodney reached out to take Bann's large hand, pulling it into his own as he lowered his head to touch the fur on the back of the large paw. It was an intimate Muoan gesture, both respectful and heartfelt in its implication, one that Rodney felt compelled to do.

"So sorry, I'm so sorry Bann...I..." He whispered as Bann covered the back of his head with his other hand and stroked it as he trembled.

"Ahhh Meetur Rodeny, mine friend of knowledge and close heart. You go be mending your head as we be mending our hearts. Worry not being over us, worry should you being over you, for you saw moments of when our hearts broke." Bann patted Rodney's hand as the scientist straightened back up. John and Teyla tugged him gently away from the now crying Muoan, and left him to grieve as they join the guards outside who would take them to their ship.

It almost appeared as if the planet itself was mourning, as a storm had broken above the city skies, pelting down cold heavy rain.

"Muo spirit planet cries for her loss." Sanac muttered as they hurried through the rain towards the landing bays.

The guards held a close formation around them, their eyes scouring the area for any sign of the attacker. Teyla felt Rodney tense and heard his small whimper as they passed through the square, seeing that the bodies of the fallen had already been removed. And even though the rain had began to wash the remnants of the slaughter away, the area would be forever etched in blood in Rodney's mind.  
As they boarded the Jumper, all of the Muin silently disappeared into the shadows except Sanac, who raised his Kuntash towards them as the bay door began to close.

"Safe be you now. Perhaps when return you, Muo once will be happy again." He said before he too disappeared into the shadows.

They felt safer in the Jumper, a little more at ease than they had felt in the past thirteen hours. So they flew home, never realising that the creature that caused the unease, the creature the Muin searched for, the creature so dangerous it took out many professional assassins, was sitting in their midst the entire time.

And they were taking it home.

_TBC...A little explanation chapter, hoping to give you a little insight into the pain Daraal has experienced, that will drive him through the story... FEED MOI SOUL COOKIES PLEASE! Comment!_

 


	11. Chapter 11

Once the team had been debriefed and their reports of the incident handed in, Woolsey made the decision to place a temporary ban on travel to Muo, a decision that was met by anger and fierce opposition by many on the base, especially by John and his team. But Richard Woolsey was a somewhat stubborn man, and stood his ground, refusing to change his mind on the matter.

"I have a duty to care for and protect the people on this base and I would have hoped that you of all people would understand, Colonel," Woolsey said heatedly after John and made his thoughts on the decision perfectly clear.

"I understand your position yes, but you're talking about leaving our friends in a time of need!"

"Yes. Well, if your reports on the matter are anything to go by, your presence on Muo will not be of much help anyway. As you have all detailed quite clearly in your reports, highly trained, powerful Muoan's were killed outright, and I fail to see how you would fare any better against the same threat. On the other hand, your request to spend time searching the database in order to help the Muoan's, I can agree to. The other teams can take up your workload for one week, I can not grant you longer than that. If you find any thing that you think might be of help to our friends, then you may contact Bann, but until this threat is taken care of, no one will be departing for Muo."

They had decided to take turns in scouring the database, splitting into pairs that worked opposing shifts, briefly meeting at lunchtime to share any information they might have found. By the fourth day, the four of them were becoming disheartened as their searching was proving useless. The database held many accounts of interactions with hundreds of species, but there did not seem to be any information regarding the Nenec or T'ny'K.

"It's as if they never entered the information or wiped it from the database entirely. There isn't even one mention of Nenec anywhere that I've searched." Rodney mentioned as they finished their lunch. "And that is not like the Ancients as they appeared to have left very meticulous notes and information on just about every other species they ever met with, except the one we are searching for."

"Perhaps they didn't want to be reminded of their actions." Murmured Ronon as he wiped his mouth clean with is hand.

"Perhaps." Teyla said as she placed her cutlery on her now empty plate. "I have no doubt that mass extinction orders would be something that they might want to forget."

"Maybe we will turn something up soon. Anyway, it's our shift now, so you guys go relax, we'll let you know if we find anything." John said as he stood to leave the table. "We better get started, we've only a few days left." He said to Rodney who quickly forked the remainder of his lunch into his mouth then went to follow to John, but not before getting his flask filled with fresh, hot coffee.

After about two hours of searching the database, John was already bored and tired. Sighing, he rubbed his strained eyes, becoming more disappointed the longer his fruitless search went on. Still, this kind of research wasn't exactly his forte and there were many files that he had skimmed over or passed to Rodney due to the excessive amount of ancient text that he barely understood. He took a five minute break to stretched out his stiff body, taking a wander around the room while Rodney continued to stare at his screen.

With regards to Rodney, John mused over the fact that he and the others had been surprised to find that the scientist continued to function much better than they had anticipated. They had been worried that perhaps the incident might have set him back a little, might have made him withdraw like he had done so many times before, but he appeared to be handling it all very well. A little too well, John thought. The fact that Rodney had only really spoken about the incident during his debriefing was a little concerning to John, but rather than confront him about it, he simply kept an eye on him. Watching him now, he seemed perfectly normal as he sat in front of the computer, but John was sure that at some point, the aftermath of what Rodney had seen would hit and he intended, as always, to be there when it did.

"Can you not do that please, you know how much that gets on my nerves." Rodney said without taking his eyes from his screen.

He was referring to the one thing John was doing that annoyed the man no end; scuffing his feet as he wandered around the room. The noise irritated Rodney when he was trying to concentrate, as he had pointed out so many times in the past few days, but John couldn't help it, it was fun to wind Rodney up. But he knew he really should get back to searching, so sat back down and started reading where he had left off. Rodney poured himself another coffee from his flask and drained the mug without stopping for breath.

"Any joy?" John asked as he raked his fingers through is unruly hair, knowing what the answer would undoubtedly be.

"Nope. You?"

"Not really, there doesn't even seem to be any reference to the destruction of T'ny'k. I find that more strange than anything. They destroyed a planet yet never made a record of it, anywhere, or any mention of the species they annihilated."

"Come on, this is the ancients we are talking about, nothing makes sense with them." Rodney replied.

John nodded in agreement as he opened a new file containing yet more ancient script.

"This is useless." He muttered as he yawned and scratched at the rough unshaven hair on his chin. Deciding to look at one more file, he opened the next on the list and tried to understand what it said.

"This one looks interesting. Blue...flammable...beats?" He said, trying to decipher the ancient he was reading by speaking the words out loud. "Blue...flaming...breasts?"

"Wait..." It was clear by the tone in his voice that Rodney thought he had found something, "Send that one to me."

"Well? What is it?" He asked when it appeared that Rodney had no desire to be forthcoming on the contents of the file. The scientist's index finger moved across the screen without touching it as he mumbled what he was reading much to John's annoyance.

"Rodney?"

"It's a classified, password protected file. It is named Blue Flame Beast, give me a second to break into it."

Rodney's fingers deftly moved over the keyboard with practiced ease, attempting to break into the file. John took another wander around the room, knowing better than to scuff his feet this time or interrupt Rodney lest he dive into a rant regarding being interrupted. As he was on his second lap of the room, Rodney let out a little triumphant yip and John knew he had succeeded in breaking into the file. He waited on the excited babble of information that usually followed Rodney's successful discovery of something, but was puzzled when it didn't come. Instead, Rodney silently viewed the screen, his eyes widening as he read, while the colour drained from his face.

"Oh God..." He whispered.

Nothing ever good followed that statement. John knew that from experience, lots and lots of experience, so he wandered back to wait on Rodney elaborating on what he had found. The man continued to stare at the screen, his eyes moving quickly as they read what the file contained and John began to feel more unsettled the larger Rodney's eyes became.

"Oh God..." he repeated, his mouth now hanging wide in a look of shock.

"Care to let me in on the secret?" John finally said when it was clear that Rodney was so immersed in what he was reading that there was no hope of him willingly telling John what he had found.

"Those...bastards." Was the reply he received, leaving John even more exasperated.

"Rodney, seriously? What is it?!"

"It's what we've been looking for. It doesn't say anything about Nenec or T'yn'k but I am sure this is what we've been searching for." Rodney finally took his eyes from the screen and when he looked at John, his expression was one of fear.

"Well what does it say?"

"It clearly tells the entire story of their encounter with the Nenec, from start to bloody end. How they fought against them, why they felt they needed to be stopped. It even has the signed order for the destruction of T'yn'k, though the name of the planet is designated by a number."

"None of this is anything we don't already know." John said, wondering why Rodney seemed to be so scared of what he was reading.

"It doesn't end with the destruction of the planet though." Rodney said as he turned back to the screen, highlighting a small area of text by circling his finger around it. "This tells of something else they did."

He noted the way Rodney's hand trembled, knowing that it had nothing to do with blood sugar as he had seen him eat a mountain of food at lunchtime. Whatever Rodney was reading had him scared, yet John had no idea why it should. He dragged his chair over to sit beside Rodney, wanting to know every detail of what the man was reading.

"So what does it say?"

Rodney opened his mouth to speak but hesitated, tearing his eyes from the screen to look at John with an intense gaze.

"Before I tell you what it says, I need to tell you something else."

He didn't like the sound of that. If Rodney had something to tell him, it could only mean one thing; the situation was much worse than he had first believed it to be. As Rodney flicked his hands nervously while staring at the floor, John tried to imagine what was worse than a Nenec on the loose, coming up with the horrible idea that there was more than one, perhaps many on the loose. Rodney heaved a deep sigh then looked back to John again.

"I've...I've been having these dreams..." He started.

"Okay..." John replied, wondering what the hell this had to do with the matter at hand.

"At least, I thought they were dreams, but now I am sure they are not."

"I don't understand."

"These dreams, seemed more like memories, like someone else's memories, not like dreams at all. Now that we've found this file, I am sure that the dreams are connected to what is in it." John simply stared at him, perplexed. "In the dreams, I am on another planet, with other creatures and the planet gets destroyed. In the dreams, I am the one remembering, not watching it happen but actually remembering what happened. John, I think I saw the destruction of T'yn'K in my dreams and now I know why."

John stared at him incredulously. "Are you seriously saying you've been dreaming about the Nenec? Come on Rodney, you have been through a terrible ordeal, it's not surprising that you have dreamed about it! But that doesn't mean this is related to what happened on Muo with the exception of your mind elaborating on what you experienced, supplemented by what information we have since heard!"

"No John, I've been experiencing this since before what happened on Muo. I...I've been experiencing it since the incident with the Ascension machine."

"Are you telling me that something has been wrong with you and you haven't said anything about it?!" John spat angrily. "Rodney, what the hell?!"

"I didn't want to be taken off the team again!"

"Taken off the..." John rubbed his hand through is hair and tugged at it as he growled loudly. "Godamnit McKay, fuck the team! Think about yourself!" Then it dawned on him what Rodney was trying to say. "Wait, are you saying that you have been dreaming about the Nenec since before you first heard of them?"

Rodney didn't reply at first, clearly torn between saying nothing or betraying himself by owning up to the fact he had suffered side effects from the Ascension machine. When he eventually nodded, John let out an infuriated cry and jumped to his feet. He quickly paced the room back and forth as his mind absorbed what Rodney was telling him, but soon his anger deflated and he return to the chair and threw himself into it.

"Okay, tell me one thing. Why do you think there is a connection between your dreams and what you just found?"

"I know they are connected because the file contains all the information that I have dreamed about. It details the ancients attack on the planet and while it is written from the point of view of the ancient who wrote it, I have seen it from the point of view of a Nenec who was there when it happened."

"This...I...how?!"

Rodney raised his hand and again circled the same square of text he had earlier.

"This here, tells of their capturing of a Nenec family, and their ultimate demise."

"So?"

"So I know for a fact that the family in question was called S'unnu't because I have somehow been privy to the memories of their capture in a forcefield of blue flames, and their disposal at the hands of the Ancients."

John cocked his head as something occurred to him. "A blue flame forcefield?" He asked as something dawned on him.

Rodney nodded. "They captured the family in the forcefield, and brought them aboard a ship. They disposed of the parents by blasting them out into space, but they disposed of their child, by bringing him to Atlantis, where they physically broke him down while extracting his DNA. They effectively, slowly disintegrated him while alive and uploaded his entire genome map into the database in order to study his species so they could eradicate the survivors easier."

"But that's good! It should tell us their findings and how to deal with the Nenenc on Muo! But wait, how did they do this?" He asked warily, already sure that he already knew the answer as something clicked in his mind.

"Did you know that Nenec had a natural healing ability, evolved because the planet they lived on was so volatile? And did you know that they have a natural forcefield that surrounds their bodies, to protect them from the extremes of their planet?"

"Rodney..." Dread filled him, he at once did and didn't want to hear what else Rodney was going to tell him.

"The ascension machine was not simply used as a means to ascension. As I said before, it was the basis on which the Sarcophagus was designed. It is a very powerful tool, almost too powerful. It is actually like having a God at your very command, that is how powerful that machine is." A sad smile appeared on his lips, a smile of regret and a sadness John could not quite fathom. "I remember being so damned angry at you that day my legs got fixed, so angry that I hit the keyboard in frustration when you turned away from me. Something popped up on the screen but I was so busy yelling at you that I didn't really read what it said. I vaguely remember the word 'reintegrate' and while I pressed the keyboard to close it, I can only assume that I activated it instead."

John stared at Rodney, realizing that if everything he was saying was true, it meant only one thing.

"I guess that is why you were the only one who survived the Nenec attack then." He said as he continued to stare at the now fidgeting scientist. "I had wondered how the hell you could have survived when all the others were slaughtered. It struck me as odd that the Nenec would kill everyone except you. But then, it isn't exactly going to kill itself, is it?"

Rodney looked as if John had slapped his face, his blue eyes filled with hurt, yet he said nothing as he stared back, allowing his features to speak for him.

"This is crazy. Do you realise what you are admitting?"

Rodney stared into space, saying nothing in reply, his fidgeting ceased and he sat there unmoving.

"Rodney?"

His eyes blinked but John could see he wasn't quite there, still lost in whatever thoughts he had in his mind.

"Rodney, we have to..."

The words caught in his throat as he saw a flash of blue light ignite behind Rodney's eyes. When he blinked and looked towards John, there was a smile on his face. The smile was more of a sneer, a cruel twisting of his mouth that was nothing at all like Rodney McKay. But then John knew instantly that this wasn't his friend before him anymore, owing to the dark expression and the fact his eyes were glowing faintly.

"I really wish you had not found that file, John." The voice was low and menacing and John swallowed hard, knowing that it was the Nenec within Rodney, speaking.

Even though he was scared, his mind still raced with questions as it puzzled him how the Nenec could have used Rodney's body to kill all the Muin. Rodney was unfit, not particularly athletic and certainly not the strongest of people, and yet this insidious mind within him had somehow utilized Rodney's body to become a deadly weapon. He himself had been controlled by the White Death a few years previous, and even she had been unable to change his strength or agility, merely used him as he was for her own gain.

"Blood, ruin and revenge." The man, no, the _thing_ before him said. He could not think of it as Rodney, lest he hesitate in any way and get himself killed.

It fixed him with its glowing stare and as John recoiled, it reached forward and grabbed his arm, pulling him closer. He looked on in horror as the face before him began to change. A rush of blue spread from the hairline to cover his face in what looked like hard, black, leathery skin with turquoise scales dotted throughout it. His eyes opened impossibly wide and changed so that the white sclera overlapped and hid the blue of his irises, turning a dark shade of yellow as his pupil stretched into a slitted hole from which the blue light shone brighter. The structure of his face remained more or less the same, but with the new skin and the fact his hair had receded completely, it looked nothing like the man that had been there moments before. John winced as he heard crackling sounds and given the fact the thing before him was growing, he assumed that what he could hear was its bones and muscles lengthening. Its neck and spine elongated and with the lengthening of its limbs, it wasn't long before it was towering over John. The T-shirt that Rodney had been wearing now failed to cover the stomach, riding up and stretched over the chest and shoulder muscles that bulged through the material. The trousers filled to almost bursting but it didn't grow so large as to destroy the clothing, which made sense as Rodney hadn't been found naked the night Muo was attacked, but when John thought on it, his clothes had been misshapen and slightly torn. But he had assumed that had happened during the skirmish.

John yelled out as he felt the now huge, clawed hand dig it's fingers into his skin and he found he was terrified out of his skull as the beast looked down on him with it's terrible yellow glare. He had just watched his best friend become something awful and even though he had seen it with his own eyes his mind was barely able to believe it. The creature raised a hand before it's face and inspected it, ignoring the man who squirmed to get out of the hold of the other.

"Ahh, I see now. I didn't become full Hell-nen after all. It seems this body has limits." It said with a rough growling voice that sounded nothing like Rodney. "It explains why it took me so long to dismember those filthy beasts. But when I gain full and complete control, you will all know my revenge."

John baulked at the idea that this was not a fully enraged Nenec that stood before him, but what he assumed that a normal one would be, if one could ever be seen as normal. While he twisted his body to get out of its grip, he hit the communicator in his ear and yelled for backup. But before he had even finished speaking, he was hauled, high into the air and thrown across the room with one very easy movement. He hit the wall then landed in a heap against it and barely had time to register pain when the Nenec was on him, grabbing him by the arms to dangle him painfully before it. When he had hit the wall, his communicator had become dislodged from his ear and he cursed the fact he had been unable to finish the call.

"How beings like you ever thought you could destroy my people is a mystery to me. Cowards. Had you fought in normal combat with us it would have been your kind that would have been annihilated. Pathetic, stringy and weak, no wonder you are fuel."

John raised his legs and kicked out at the Nenec's chest, but it simply threw him away as if he was a piece of balled up paper. He smashed into the computer desk on the far side of the room, feeling the equipment dig painfully into his body as he landed on them before sliding over the edge onto the floor, taking the expensive kit with him. He slowly and painfully pulled himself to lean against the wall, clutching at his aching side which he was sure held broken ribs.

Watching as the beast moved so quickly towards him, he almost couldn't trace its movements, but he saw the raised clawed hand and steeled himself for the blow that would surely come. If he had thought that he had been prepared for the blow, he was sorely mistaken as it felt as though the huge hand had almost taken the head from his shoulders and even though he felt his jaw snap, he was mildly surprised to find that he had survived the blow when he hit the floor with a jarring thud. Dragging himself in a futile attempt to get away, he screamed as he felt claws rake deeply down his back and suddenly he was in the air again, held high above the Nenec's head so much so that he was mere centimeters from touching the ceiling. Then he was thrown again, only stopping when he collided with the solid desk across the room, yelling when he felt his shoulder pop out of it's joint. As he lay on the floor gasping, the Nenec slowly made its way towards him, walking on all fours, its head cocked to the side with a huge grin on its ugly face. He saw a shimmer of blue around its body and knew that even if help somehow did arrive soon, the creature would be unstoppable due to that shimmering forcefield.

"You just know too much, but I'm not sorry that I have to do this. I rather relish it in fact." It said, the glow behind its eyes brightening.

His heart was beating so quickly and his breathing was so shallow that he was sure he was about to pass out and how he wished that he could have when that incredibly strong arm pulled back to deliver the killing blow. But to John's relief, the Nenec froze mid swing and snarled.

"No!"

He watched as it appeared to shrink slightly, as if it was pulling in on itself. The blue skin rippled on its face and for a moment it looked as though the Nenec was losing its ability to keep in control of Rodney's body. While John hoped that Rodney would burst through any moment, he felt ill at what this all meant for the scientist. But his hope was dashed when the Nenec reasserted its control over Rodney's body and dealt him a blow that snapped his head to the side so violently, it would be a miracle if his neck was not broken. He would never know if it had been, as John disappeared when that blow had hit, his mind shutting down so quickly that he didn't even have time to form another thought.

.  
.

"John?" Rodney whispered in a frightened voice. "John?!"

He looked down on his friend who lay injured and unconscious on the floor at his feet, having no recollection of how it had happened. Last he remembered was telling John about what the ancients had done to the Nenec, was sure he had went as far as to tell him about his dreams, but he remembered nothing else until a few moments ago when he had woke up, standing over John's crumpled body. He knelt down beside John and pressed a shaking hand to his neck, relief washing over him when he found a slow steady beat beneath his fingers. Sitting back on his haunches, he continued to look at his friend in shock, noticing the huge scratches on his face, the large angry bruise that spread over his forehead and the strange angle at which his lower jaw was sitting. His clothes were ripped in places and the flesh beneath was bruised and battered.

Rodney was all too familiar with the feeling of deja vu that suddenly overwhelmed him as he had experienced it before, had lost time before, on Muo. He gulped and looked down at his hands, finding on them what he had expected; signs of trauma and splatters of John's blood. His clothes were warped and one of the seams in his t-shirt was burst, the materials dotted with blood, as they had been on Muo. His body ached, his back felt slack and his limbs felt loose as if they had been pulled and stretched beyond their normal limits.

Rodney was not a stupid man, he knew what this all meant, even if he was afraid to actually admit it. As his mind reeled with the enormity of his situation, he barely noticed the armed team of men who barged into the room, his eyes fixed on John and the injuries he had apparently dealt him. When someone placed a hand on his shoulder, he turned to stare into the anxious looking face of Evan Lorne. He was asking what had happened as the others attended to John, but Rodney couldn't answer as he felt the undeniable sensations that came with a rapidly dropping blood sugar level. This confused him as he had been eating like a pig for days now and there was no reason for a hypoglycemic attack, but as his thoughts became increasingly muddled, he accepted the fact that he was on the verge of passing out and he began to fall down, his descent controlled by Lorne whose worried eyes were the last thing Rodney saw before slipping into darkness.

_TBC..._   
_PS: the mention of White Death is in connection to one of my earlier stories. It makes sense that John would remember the experience._


	12. Chapter 12

By the time Rodney woke up, he was ravenous. But the hunger was nothing compared to the onslaught of memories that were so suddenly clear in his mind, and they took his breath away. They made him feel physically sick and he felt the bile rise at the back of his throat as he experienced the dream like before, as if it were his own memories. He remembered the staggering feelings of anger and hatred that filled his being to completely that, as he sat there, they still affected him. The lust for bloodshed and revenge was so extreme that he wouldn't have thought it was possible to feel such rage for any length of time and remain sane.

He remembered the sensations he had experienced as his body changed and morphed into another being. Every stretched muscle and popping tendon as loud as the crackling noise that sounded when his bones had lengthened. The memories made him feel even more nauseous, but what sickened him the most, was the look that had been on the face of John Sheppard as he had watched Rodney change. The look of revulsion and horror had been etched so clearly on his face that it hardly looked like his friend, more like a terrified stranger as John just never looked like that. Very little fazed the man, he was the epitome of calm in the face of danger yet one look at Rodney had seen his normally brave exterior disintegrate.

Then there was the fact that he had thrown John around the room, as if he weighed little more than a rag doll. This especially frightened him, specifically the fact that he somehow had the strength to do such a thing. It was as amazing as it was frightening. As the memories of every punch, kick and throw replayed through his mind, making his stomach heave, he found himself fighting hard to keep the contents of it where they were.

He tried to calm down, looking around the medical bay to find something else to occupy his mind. Then his eyes fell upon John, laying in the bay across from him as Carson and a nurse attended him. He looked so frail and broken lying there, his face consisting mostly of one huge bruise that was only broken by the lacerations across his face. Rodney was stunned by his guilt, his stomach churning as he looked upon the injuries he had inflicted on his best friend. What the hell was he going to do?

With the exception of one other nurse who was busy writing notes, the place was empty. He was pretty sure the place would fill up as soon as they realised he was awake, all of them wanting to ask him questions about what had happened in the computer lab. But he had no ideas of how to answer such questions or even what to do about what was happening to himself. Knowing that he himself was the monster that everyone had been searching for, left him feeling terribly scared. But he wasn't scared for himself though, he was scared for everyone he would come into contact with. Knowing what the beast within him was capable of, his future was pretty much going in one direction, one which was bleak and lonely. He knew that when the Nenec within him awoke again, the bloodshed that would occur would be devastating and it would be the blood of people he cared about that was spilled. To Rodney, there was only one choice he could make, only one thing that he could do, and it would be the hardest thing he had ever had to do. He needed to leave Atlantis and everyone he loved.

He knew it would be difficult, the base would undoubtedly be on high alert, but he had to figure out a way to get off the base and keep everyone safe and alive. He would have to be exceedingly careful, as he knew that once a transformation was triggered, there was not a single thing he could do to stop it. So if it happened while near someone, he might possibly, no, he would definitely kill that person and there would be nothing he could do to stop it happening.

It wasn't a fight for control of his body, he wasn't battling the Nenec for control like he had been during the incident with Cadman. This was an entirely different scenario than that. He wasn't being taken over as such, more like he was changing from one entity into another. The way he saw it, even the very structure of his brain changed, he was sure of it. With the transformation, he actually became the Nenec, leaving Rodney McKay completely non existent, He could not communicate with the Nenec either, as when he was himself, it was the Nenec that ceased to exist. The only thing that they appeared to be able to share, were memories. He knew this as he remembered the Nenec calling John by his name, which meant that there had to be some leakage of memories between them. His theory on this was, that while his brain was transforming, there would be a point in the transformation in which both brains would be similar enough to meld slightly, allowing the transference of some memories and thoughts. If this was the case, then they both had access to each others knowledge too, and he knew this to be true because of all that he had seen of Daraal's past.

It was a very dangerous situation. The strength and physicality of a Nenec, combined with Rodney's intelligence and the ability to transfer memories amounted to a situation that was just about as dangerous as it could be. But how was he to leave Atlantis? He doubted that he could even leave the medical wing undetected never mind leave the city itself.

"You are one lucky bugger, d'you know that?" Carson interrupted his thoughts and Rodney blinked in surprise as he realised the doctor was standing right beside him. "What are you playing at? You know you need to eat properly and no, before you say it, copious amounts of coffee does not count as food."

"I'm fine Carson, I just didn't notice the time or the fact I was hungry."

"Aye, I bloody know. Your blood sugar was so low it was almost non existent!" He said as he scribbled something in the folder at the end of Rodney's bed.

"Never mind me, I'm fine. How's John?"

Carson's face dropped into a look of worry as he placed the folder back onto the end of the bed. "He's battered, bruised, and yet to wake up. What the hell happened in there?"

Rodney looked beyond Carson, to stare at the man who had given him the best friendship he had ever had, and sighed. "I don't know," he replied, a lie forming in his mind as the words fell from his mouth. "One minute I was looking at the computer screen, the next John was stopping me falling out of the chair. I must have hit a hypo, so whatever happened, I have no recollection of it." His words sounded hollow in his ears, and he was sure that Carson would recognize the lie, but he was surprised when the man seemed to believe him.

"By the looks of him, it's as if he was attacked by a wild animal. What if it was that...thing?"

"I don't know, I blacked out. It is possible that we brought the Nenec back with us I suppose." The lie was growing arms and legs now, and Rodney felt Carson's eyes boring into him as if he knew it was all a lie.

"Dear God I hope not. I heard about what happened on Muo and if that thing is loose on the base..." His words petered away as the thought of the chaos that a Nenec could cause filtered into his mind.

Rodney merely nodded, as he was sure if he opened his mouth to say more on the matter, the words would sound more fake.

"Can I leave now?" Rodney asked, hoping to get away quickly and form a plan of escape. "I mean, I feel fine and really want to have a shower." He winced at how lame his own words sounded.

Carson sighed and shook his head. "Woolsey wanted notified as soon as one of you woke up."

"Oh come on Carson," he said in his best whiny voice. "I'll just grab a shower then report to his office."

"I suppose, you are not in any danger now. But I really need to get your blood sugar in order. I might run some tests to rule out a migration towards full blown diabetes. And please, eat properly!"

It was on the tip of his tongue to argue the point that he WAS eating properly, but thought better of it as he knew it would only prolong his stay.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o

He ran through the corridors towards his room, noting the increased presence of military personnel, all armed and alert. His insides twisted and he was sure his face looked as guilty as he felt. Once he was in his room, he grabbed the large bag that he used for traveling to and from Earth, and threw it onto the bed. Anything he thought he might need was tossed haphazardly inside the bag until it became clear it would hold no more. There really was no time to hang about, he had no idea when the Nenec might surface again. So he donned a jacket, zipped up the bag and threw it over his shoulder, and quickly left.

His plan was to get to the Jumper bay, somehow commandeer a Jumper and get the hell away as quick as he could. All he had to do was get there undetected, re-program the gate access protocol so that he could take the Jumper through the Gate, and leave. That was what he intended to do anyway, but as he knew, things didn't always go according to plan.

Hurrying along the corridor with the large bag banging off his back made him more conspicuous than he liked. He turned a corner and almost slammed into a hard faced marine, his heart rate rising until he could hear it pounding in his ears.

"Need to...get to the..." He gasped, using his hands to finish the sentence. The marine looked at him, bored and unconcerned, so he hurried on towards his destination.

When he finally reached it, he found the bay deserted and Rodney spent no time getting to work. He quickly linked his laptop to the system console just beside the doorway. Hurriedly, he hacked the system to enable his escape, knowing that as soon as he did it, someone would notice and he would have people surrounding him in no time. He was sure it would take them some time to reach him, in which he could already have made his escape. But as he finished the hack and was unlinking the laptop, a voice sounded in the doorway.

"Doctor McKay, what are you doing in here?" Rodney looked to find Evan Lorne standing there, a puzzled look on his face. "No one is meant to be down here, the entire base is on shutdown."

"I, eh, I was looking to see...if there..." Rodney gulped as his eyes darted around, trying to think up some valid reason for his presence in the Jumper Bay. He pointed to the nearest parked Jumper, a smile on his face. "..were any clues, you know, that might point towards us having brought the Nenec back with us."

"That's the wrong Jumper." Even replied as he stared at him, clearly unimpressed.

"Oh? Is it?" His head spun around to look at the Jumper, but he couldn't really tell one from another.

"Doctor McKay, I need to ask you to leave here and return to your room. You know what lockdown means, no one leaves their room until it is lifted."

Lorne's hand flew to his ear as he listened to a message coming through his earpiece. As he lowered his hand again, it was clear that Rodney's hacking had been discovered.

"What are you really doing down here?" Lorne asked as he watched Rodney pressed a button on the console in front of him. "Doctor McKay?"

The door behind him slammed shut, leaving them both closed in the bay and shut off from the rest of the base.

"If you stay where you are, and don't do anything, you will be alright. Okay?" Rodney said as he slowly walked backwards to the Jumper, his hands raised in a peaceful manner. "Please, I am asking you not to do anything stupid, Okay? Just...just let me do what I need to do."

Evan had tried, unsuccessfully to open the door again and could hear his newly arrived team banging on it from the other side. He raised his gun, pointing it directly at Rodney, confusion written all over his face. "I can't do that Doctor, you know that. Now please, step away from the Jumper, open this door and return to your room."

Rodney continued to ignore him, lifting his bag from the floor where he had thrown it, then proceeded to open the Jumper bay doors. Evan fired off a warning shot and Rodney's head snapped up to look at him. He could feel his heart rate rising, his breathing increasing and with horror, tasted the sour tang on his tongue, the final sign that the Nenec was coming.

"Evan please. Don't do anything, just..." But the Major wasn't listening, he was in full protocol mode and if he had to incapacitate McKay and drag his ass to the cells, he would. Rodney desperately tried to stop the transformation, despite knowing that he couldn't. He could feel himself start to disappear, as if his consciousness was being overwritten. His body seemed to heat to a terrible degree and soon he simply vanished from existence.

Evan watched as McKay's head snapped back, his mouth agape, his eyes changing colour and beginning to glow. He wished the men who were currently trying to get into the bay would break in soon, as he knew that this was definitely not Rodney McKay he was imprisoned with. McKay was now walking towards him, a feral look on his face. His eyes were changing again and suddenly yellow burst over them until they became something alien, something so sinister that Evan had a hard time looking at them. When McKay stood a few feet before him, Evan felt himself hit by a blast of heat from an invisible wall that smashed into him with enough force to as to throw him some meters away, to land painfully on his back. His P90 had been thrown from his hands and skittered across the floor to land quite some distance away. He watched in shock as icy blue flames engulfed McKay, his yellow burning eyes looking upon upon him as if he was something to eat. He was astonished that McKay was not burning up inside the flames that surrounded his body, he could feel the heat of them from where he lay.

"You should have left when he gave you the chance." It took a moment For Evan to realize that it had been Mckay that had spoken, the voice so different from the usual tones of the man. He knew instantly that this was not Rodney McKay that stood before him, but was at a loss as to who it was.

Daraal cocked his head as he looked at Even Lorne. His calculating mind had taken what it could from the fading Rodney McKay and pieced together everything in a few seconds. He was unable to fully transform, the stupid human had neglected to fuel his body sufficiently and Daraal was left in a partial transformation in which only his mind, eyes and forcefield were powered.

"Who...who are you?" Evan managed to ask, too shocked to do much else.

"I am Daraal S'unu't." The creature replied as if it was obvious. "It appears that your friend had thoughts to escape here. Some plan to keep you all alive and safe from...me." He said the last word in a vicious snarl and a flash of teeth that made a shudder run down Lorne's spine. "But due to your interference, he has failed and I can have my revenge on the inhabitants of this city."

As he got to his feet and straightened himself, Evan pulled a hand through his hair, surreptitiously pressing his ear piece so it was an open channel, whoever listened, would hear it all. His gun may have been lost but he had a hand gun just inches from his hand and he was determined to stop this creature.

"So you are, what? A shape shifter? Some kind of chameleon? Because you're sure as hell not Rodney McKay" He asked as he slowly lowered his hand towards the handgun.

The McKay creature laughed, continuing to stare at him while the flames burned brighter.

"I am not something that you would understand, human. Though your predecessors certainly tried to understand me."

Evan gripped the handgun and raised it towards Daraal, but the creature ran so fast, closing the distance between them almost without him seeing the action. His hand was crushed in a vice like grip and the gun fell to the floor with a clatter. As close as he was, the heat was unbearable and the skin that was in contact with the creature blistered and tore as the force field blew its burning heat over him.

"I can use my field to torture or engulf you. To kill you quickly would not be much fun, so I think I might play with you a while...Evan Lorne..."

Daraal grinned and angled his head down while still keeping his evil eyes on Lorne's. Suddenly, the flames surrounding him calmed and became a broiling sheen around him that looked and moved like the surface of boiling water. Then the flames sparked back into life much hotter than before and Lorne struggled to pull himself away. It was as if he was standing beside a burning sun, his eyes dried instantly and his unprotected skin blistered and burned as his clothes smoked and smoldered. His screams rent the air as the pain became unbearable and Evan knew he would not survive this encounter. He still had some hold of his senses and while one hand was held by the Nenec, the other strained to grab at the lethal knife in his leg holster.

It was with sheer grit and determination that he managed to fight his pain and plunge the knife into Daraal's stomach. For a few seconds, the white blue fire that surrounded his body became a fiery red then black as his blood burned up in the flames, and Evan watched as light burst through the knife wound, which slowly and surely knitted closed. Daraal threw him and he crashed into the door that had been sealed shut. He straightened, his back resting against the door and he could hear the muffled voices of the soldiers behind it.

Daraal walked towards him, then knelt beside his suffering body, the flames now blue again and flickering close to his body like a second skin. He raised a hand to place it on Evan's forehead and he fought to avoid the contact. But as soon as the hand reached his head, Evan felt as if his skull was about to explode. Pressure built up until Evan screamed one long, continuous scream that ended with a gurgled cry. His dry eyes were closing when the doors finally opened, and he slumped backwards when the multiple bullets burst through McKay's chest, splattering warm blood on his face. The rest of the blood burned up in the flames, momentarily turning McKay's visage into a macabre sight. Evan did not know if the creature had been killed, as he fell into darkness amid the sounds of shouting and weapons fire.

_TBC...Feed moi cookie comments! :D_


	13. Chapter 13

 

He woke to the sounds of screams that seemed to reverberate off every wall to magnify in intensity and assault his ears. He watched the rush of medical staff as they attended the screaming man, their faces showing no emotion as they worked on auto pilot, afraid to feel. As the screams died down to a pained whimper, John realised just how much his head hurt and he groaned in unison with the tortured man across in the other bay. For some time he could not recall exactly why he was in the infirmary, finding himself idly working through his waking body in the search for hurts, finding more than one achingly painful area. His entire head felt as if it had been squashed in a vice until flat. His face ached, a stripe across it burned and his jaw felt as if it had been torn off. He was pretty sure he was suffering from whiplash, his neck barely able to move and painfully stiff. When he tried to put a hand to his face he felt his shoulder throb and spasm and with it came the fleeting memory of being hurled against a wall. But the full memory of what had happened stayed tantalizingly out of reach, like a name or word on the tip of his tongue, elusive and infuriating.

He continued to lie there in a hazy daze, propped upright on pillows that had seen better days. The more alert he became, the more intense his pain was, building within him until he took to mentally counting the beating of the heart monitor beside his bed, just to take his mind off it. When the curtains were drawn back from around the other bay, his counting stalled when he saw the man who had been screaming in so much pain, but it wasn't until the nurse gently called the man's name that John knew who it was. Never for a moment would he have thought that the red, blistered, swollen face that stood out so shockingly against the white bed linen, was that of Evan Lorne. His hair was mostly gone, what remained was like a short bristled brush of no use to anyone. The skin of his face, neck and arms, was blistered and weeping, and there was a charred patch just below where his hairline had been that extended towards the back of his head in four finger like lengths. He looked like a stray mongrel that had been rescued from the bonfire, five minutes too late. Evan continued to moan though he was clearly unconscious and John found himself unable to drag his eyes away from the terrible sight. The man whispered and moaned and in a slightly louder voice, pleaded with Rodney McKay to stop, and that was when John remembered.

His mind unlocked and in few seconds he relived everything that had happened and how he wished he was still in that happy stupor of moments before. He saw Rodney before him, growing and changing, becoming something horrendous and powerfully strong and _OH GOD!_ He tried to sit up quickly, intent on getting out of the bed, but was unable to. A yell left his tight lipped mouth before he could clamp down on it as his fractured ribs protested against the movement. He grabbed at the bed rails and hung on, sucking in only the small gasps of breath that his aching ribcage would allow. Carson Beckett hurried to his side and helped him relax back, his hands gently moving him back onto the pillows.

"Easy son, lie back, you're safe now."

But John was suffering a panic attack, one the likes of which he had not experienced since after the Jumper crash. He also had things to say, and even if he had to scream them through the pain, he would say them. Sweating and breathless, he forced words though a mouth that refused to move, noticing for the first time that his jaw was bound to keep it immobile, a bandage wrapped around his head holding it in place.

"Woolsey...Nenec...Rodney..." He managed to growl out and he was angry at the fact he couldn't even string together a proper sentence, raging at his inability to communicate at a time like this.

He grimaced as pain shot through his head and neck then moaned loudly as his body began to tremble. His head felt as if it was about to implode and he gasped as he writhed in pain that finally hit him full force. Each movement he made brought with it a new agony, a cascade effect on a torturous physical level that left him whimpering. Carson hurried away, only to return a moment later with a syringe, the contents of which he injected into the IV line in John's arm. A few moments later, John began to relax, his breathing slowing as the pain and agitation diminished under the welcomed, drug induced, numbness. He remained relatively alert, how long he would remain so was anyone's guess so he took what time he had left awake to get his message across.

He spoke in a slow, slurred voice that was becoming quieter with every word he uttered. He saw the alarm grow in Carson's eyes as he related the very basics of what had happened, wanting to impart the important facts before he passed out. For his part, Carson listened intently, asking no questions and not making a sound that might break the concentration that John strove to keep hold of. He continued to sit there, staring at John long after the final whisper had left his tight lips having fallen asleep under the heavy hand of the sedation Carson had administered.

_It's in...Rodney...That thing...it's on Atlantis...and wants to kill...everything._

The colonels final words echoed through Carson's mind as he took a few paces back from John's bed. Standing in the middle of the infirmary, he looked between the two injured men, confused and aghast. These were two highly trained soldiers, he had seen them both in deadly action and he tried to imagine Rodney McKay taking them down. He couldn't. Rodney had neither the inclination to cause harm nor the power to strike down such strong men. Sure, he might get a lucky punch in occasionally, but Carson could not believe that his friend would be able to cause the devastation he was currently treating. John had told him to repeat the last search on the computer he had been using, urging him to fill in the words he was unable to say. It had been clear that John had so much more to tell and Carson regretted sedating him so heavily, but he could not watch someone suffer and at the time had felt it a blessing for the tortured man. Now, he had to piece together what had happened and figure out how to stop the scourge that could descend on the city, at any time.

0o0o0o0o0o

It had taken Zelenka less than five minutes to find the files last accesses by John and Rodney, and a further forty minutes to run them through a translation program, then sent them to Carson's computer in the infirmary. It allowed the doctor to look over the data while still being present in the infirmary in case one of the injured men condition deteriorated. Woolsey and Zelenka were both waiting to hear what Carson could glean from the data and the doctor's worried expression did little to ease Woolsey's worried mind as he anxiously hopped about from foot to foot behind him.

"This is bloody incredible." Carson muttered as he stared at the computer screen. Eyes wide open and mouth agape, he quickly read the words on the screen, finding all the information that John had been unable to tell him. The initial experiments, the use of the ascension machine, the entrapment of a sentient being, everything he needed to know. "It's barbaric, but bloody incredible. No wonder his blood sugar has been plummeting, he's been burning through energy like a damned furnace!"

He had been ignoring Woolsey, so engrossed with what he was reading, but Woolsey wasn't a man who could easily be ignored for long.

"I'm sure it is quite fascinating Doctor Beckett, but I would rather like to know what you have found, and if there is anything useful in there that we can use to help the situation at hand!" He said irritatedly and finally caught Carson's attention.

"Basically, it tells us that the ascension machine was used to break down this Nenec creature, into the machine itself, for research." The two men stared at him, not quite grasping what he meant. "As in, they tore apart an intelligent being and uploaded it, alive, into the data banks. As I said, incredible but horrific."

"How is that even possible?" Woolsey asked, clearly shocked.

"How is it possible that Elizabeth stayed alive for thousands of years to warn us of the fail safe? Or how is it possible that Rodney gained super powers after his first round with the ascension machine? When discussing Ancient tech and programming, it is more of a question of what _isn't_ possible." Zelenka replied.

"Looking at this warning of sorts," Carson pointed at the screen to a small area of text that was bolder than the rest. "It can also reintegrate the matter into form again, so they could reform the Nenec if they wanted to. Obviously no one in their right mind would do that, but should it have been triggered accidentally..."

"Are you saying that Doctor McKay accidentally unleashed the beast when he healed himself with the machine?"

"I'm not one hundred percent sure, but this is Rodney we are talking about; the man's a walking accident. I'm sure Doctor Zelenka could pull the appropriate file from the ascension machine and check?" Zelenka nodded and scribbled something onto his tablet. "But, I am also almost a hundred percent sure that Rodney _is_ the Nenec."

Woolsey looked at him as if he had sprouted a second head and Zelenka stopped writing on his tablet to look over the top of his glasses at him, sceptically.

"Look, if the reintegration program was initiated while someone else was on the podium, it is plausible that both entities could combine to become a completely new entity. But, it is also just as possible that they might combine and yet remain completely separate, in one body."

"Surely you are not suggesting that Doctor McKay can change into the beast at will and it is he that has been attacking people?"

"No, not at will. The way I see it, looking at this and knowing what I know about Rodney's miraculous recovery, I would say it is entirely possible that both sets of DNA are within him, One set dominant and one hidden at any one time, both fighting internally for full control. It might not even be a conscious fight, it could be on a cellular level that they could be warring for the right to live. Rodney might not even know what is happening to him, blaming any blackouts on his hypoglycaemia!" Carson experienced a moment on insight, sure that what he was saying was right.

"So this Nenec is the reason that Doctor McKay can walk?" Woolsey might be slower than some, but he was still quicker than most.

"Yes. It is likely that when the Nenec DNA was settled into Rodney's body, it set about fixing the injured parts, like a reboot of his system. Going by the statements of the marines who rescued Major Lorne, they said that whatever Rodney had become took several rounds before it took off. They did little to slow it down, he was already healing as he ran away. So we know this thing has astonishing healing properties."

"And what of this forcefield that has been spoken of by the Muoans, how is it then, that our men were able to injure it to begin with? Surely the bullets etcetera, would have no impact."

"I believe Rodney's hypoglycaemia might be affecting that. It may be that he has only partially transformed into the Nenec. This creature requires huge amounts of energy to live and power that forcefield, but it is trying to survive in a body that can quickly run out of energy. The Ancient's were committed to annihilating this creatures entire species because of it's dietary requirements and the slaughter they carried out in order to feed. It goes through an inordinate amounts of energy, but the base DNA will always be the basis of the transformation and Rodney simply can not give it what it needs, so it never fully transforms."

"I guess we can be somewhat thankful for that." Zelenka muttered.

"Well, yes and no. I am under no illusion that should Rodney consume enough food, that abomination will manage to break through, if only for a short time. But if its DNA overwrites Rodney's? We are in a whole lot of trouble. You only need to look at what happened on Muo, at a party where there was lots of delicious food, and a greedy McKay. I'm pretty sure it fully transformed then."

"Could this hypo-whatever be used against it?"

"Possibly. I'm not sure. But wherever Rodney is just now, he will either be comatose through sugar depletion or feeding the hunger the Nenec metabolism creates. Either way, we have to find him quickly."

"And the Nenec consume mostly the meat of other beings?" Woosley asked and shuddered when Carson nodded. As he processed all of the information, he rubbed at his forehead and closed his eyes. The expression on his face said it all; they were in deep shit and had little options to get them out of the stinking mess. Eventually he sighed and looked at Carson and Zelenka, his expression grave but determined.

"Doctor Zelenka, you worked on the ascension machine the last time. Have a look over its programming, see what you can come up with. Doctor Beckett, I need you to devise a way to stop this creature as I think you are onto something with this hypoglycaemia theory. I want frequent updates and please, hurry. If this creature manages to get to full strength, well, you all know what happened on Muo and it wasn't at full strength then."

His words hung heavily in the air as he and Radek left the infirmary and Carson, knowing how very desperate their situation had become. This wasn't just about the Nenec now, this was about saving Rodney McKay's life. There were teams searching the city for him, all of them on a shoot-first order, and even though Woolsey had not told him this, Carson knew it without a doubt. Desperation gripped his mind as he walked into the medical bay to check on the two men. If he could not come up with a way to stop the Nenec, his friend, Rodney McKay, would be killed.

_TBC...Please leave a comment ;)_


	14. Chapter 14

The sound of his feet, dragging slowly over the filthy floor, seemed overly loud to his ears. So too was the ragged noise of his breathing that he knew was entirely too quick to really saturate his blood with oxygen efficiently. Sweat poured down his face and his entire body was drenched with it, but he carried on dragging his sorry ass further and further away from everyone in the city. He knew that he was living on borrowed time; his sugar reserves were already almost depleted when he had snapped back into reality, already drenched in sweat and trembling as he ran for his life from the gun fire and shouting voices. There was blood on his hands and holes in his clothes and although Daraal's amazing healing abilities had managed to close most of the bullet holes, there were still two, painfully large holes left in his body. The one in his upper right thigh troubled him the most as he walked deeper into the bowels of the city. The bullet hole in his shoulder was merely a nagging throb as his body began to close down, the pain diminishing the closer he came to dying.

Despite how pitiful his last moments were playing out to be, Rodney was somewhat glad to be able to use his last precious minutes to protect everyone on Atlantis. His final, lonely walk, ensured that the Nenec within him would harm no one else, and it brought him a sense of peace. All thought of moaning about his predicament was forgotten when he realised he had saved lives with this desolate ending of his own. He would not lament his life cut short, or cry over how many things he had still to achieve. He simply carried on while his body slowed down towards inevitable coma and death, and in a way, he welcomed it. He wouldn't have to confront John Sheppard, his very best friend who had taken the first attack. Nor look upon the ruined face of Evan Lorne, for he had seen the damage second hand, through Daraal's memory. He wouldn't have to live with the burden of the guilt he felt at the deaths on Muo, nor would he have to look Bann in the eye and admit he was the monster that took his relatives lives.

The corridors were dark, lit only with the weak, muted light cast down from the security lights that came on at his presence. Further along the corridor where the lights were still to come on, sinister shadows of irregular shape darkened the walls and floor and he shuddered whenever he approached them and a light failed to come on. Eventually, with a sigh that barely made a noise in the quiet corridor, he fell slowly to the ground. Plumes of dust and grime flew into the air when his body hit the ground, and had he been more himself, he would have covered his nose and mouth in disgust at the thought of breathing it in. As it was, he lay there in extreme discomfort, his slack face half buried in years of filth, and breathed away the last moments of his life.

His gallant thoughts of earlier were slowly replaced as his usual snarky side pushed through the haze momentarily. It wasn't right goddamnit, and it certainly wasn't fair, he idly thought. To perish in such a dark hole of nothing while hunger clawed at his belly and hypoglycaemia caused dizziness in his starving brain, was so completely unfair. He used what remained of his reserves to push himself onto his back; he might as well die in a more comfortable position. His hands flopped over his stomach to slip to his side, and as his breathing slowed, he became vaguely aware of the noise of something coming down the corridor towards him.

Someone coming to save him, perhaps? Oh how he hoped it was! Then, when he realised what that actually meant, he hoped it wasn't. When he saw a man's head move into his viewing space, he hoped it wasn't a medic. When he heard the soft, gentle voice of Carson Beckett, he hoped it was just his imagination. Even when he felt the sharp jab of the glucose injection in his thigh, he hoped against hope that it was merely a hallucination.

All of his suffering, everything he had been through, was for nothing if they revived him now. His plan to destroy the Nenec with his sacrifice was being undone with the introduction of the life saving serum to his blood stream. They were risking their lives to save his and he wouldn't allow it! He weakly tried to push them away, tried to shout at them to back off and let him be. His fighting and heightened emotions must have triggered something as he felt himself slowly disappear to be replaced by the very creature he fought so hard to destroy. As he disappeared, he was sure he felt the numbing effects of sedation, knowing that Carson had not only injected the fuel his body craved for. He disappeared as the Nenec snapped into existence, and he blinked out with a final hope that the doctor had some kind of plan up his sleeve.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

"...heavily sedated...blood sugar level...split the two..."

John slowly came to, pushing his way through the sedation Carson had administered earlier, gritting his teeth against the pain that brought him quickly back to reality. Though his mind was still dulled by whatever Carson had given him, he was aware enough to know that they were discussing Rodney McKay. The voices of the others sounded relatively close to him, and as he continued to rise out of his stupor, he listened in on their conversation.

"I can't even find the containment weapon that is spoken about in the data base." It was Zelenka, his voice tense with worry.

"I don't think we need it, he is so suppressed, I doubt the transformation could happen anyway." Carson's voice sounded less confident than his words made out.

"Are you sure about that, Doctor Beckett? Any miscalculation could result in untold fatalities."

He heard the intake of breath and the soft sigh that followed, knowing that the Scottish doctor was doubting himself as Woolsey's question had intended.

"I can't guarantee anything. This entire debacle is so far removed from the norm, I can't even say this is a good idea. I also can't keep Rodney in the state he is in for very long. It could be detrimental to his health to prolong this."

"Well I would prefer for him to be contained if it is possible. I don't want him moved without it unless absolutely necessary. Keep me appraised of your progress and alert me when you are ready."

"I'll get back to searching for that containment weapon." Zelenka sighed.

John heard the two men leave and tried to crack his eyes open, a motion hampered by the sticky gunge that held them closed. He must have moaned or moved as Carson's voice sounded beside him within seconds.

"Easy son." He said, feeling the gentle hand of Carson on his arm, making sure he didn't sit up.

John looked at him, seeing the tired worry lining his face, knowing that some of that worry was for John himself.

"I'm fine doc." He muttered as he eased himself into a different position, and it wasn't a lie, he did feel less overwhelmed than he had the last time he had woken. "What's going on?"

"We looked up the data you told me to, and know what happened to Rodney. But he took himself off into the closed down parts of the city, with what appeared to be the somewhat admiral attempt to save us all by dying."

John's brows furrowed in worry and he tried to move his head to look around the infirmary for a glimpse of Rodney.

"He's okay, a couple of bullet wounds that are already almost healed. But he's not here. He is in a holding cell, being attended to by other medical staff. I have him on a couple of IV's. One to keep his body glucose within certain limits that will keep him alive until we can fix him, but not overly power the Nenec should it emerge. The other has a sedative in it, to keep him in a restful state."

"To what end?" God his face ached and it annoyed him immensely to have to force his words out of his immobile mouth.

"Doctor Zelenka has found the programs used by the ancients to both disassemble and reassemble the Nenec. We are hoping that we can use it to somehow split the two of them apart."

"How?"

"I've looked it over with Doctor Zelenka and we both agree that if we disassemble Rodney into the data banks, it will split the DNA into two separate files and we need only reassemble Rodney, leaving the Nenec in the system like before."

With anything, there were risks, and as Carson filled him in with the possible outcomes, John's gaze fell upon Evan, and it hurt to look at the man. But the sight of Evan reinforced what they were dealing with. No matter the risk to Rodney, they could not allow this beast to cause any more pain or death. He knew there was a possibility that they would lose Rodney, but it was a risk they had to take. He understood that only too well, but that didn't stop the knowledge from piercing a hole in his heart.

"I'd like to see him." John said after a few moments of silence.

Carson simply nodded his head in understanding then set about removing the wires that hooked him to the machines at his bedside. It took a few, long minutes to ease him into the wheelchair, his stiff muscles and injuries doing their best to immobilize him, but he managed with a moan or two and with the help of Carson's strong arms.

Beckett pushed him to the locked down, heavily guarded area, in which Rodney McKay lay on a medical bed. There were four soldiers outside the room but only one within, as Carson felt it necessary to maintain Rodney's dignity as a patient. John rolled his eyes, it was so typically Carson. Rodney looked so peaceful laying there. So much so that it almost seemed overkill to have him laid out, locked inside a cell once used to hold Wraith. He looked as if he was in a coma, no threat to anyone, but John was more than aware how very quickly the Nenec could make an appearance. Machines had been set up, constantly monitoring Rodney's vital signs as well as an EEG that monitored his alertness. The room was hushed, as if any sound might make the monster appear. John almost found it amusing as he watched the nurse in the cell tip toe around Rodney's bed as if he was a sound activated bomb. Almost amusing, except it wasn't funny, not in the slightest. Rodney's eyes rolled lazily around their sockets, occasionally opening briefly before closing again.

"How deep is he?" John slurred, gingerly wiping a stray dribble from the side of his mouth.

"Deep. He isn't aware of us." Carson replied as he took a look at the readouts one of the nurses handed him.

"How long until you move him to the ascension machine?"

"As soon as Zelenka has found the damned containment thing that was used for the original Nenec. We just can't take the chance."

"And if he doesn't find it?"

The nurse called Carson away to look at something and he left John, his question unanswered. A large, fully armed soldier deactivated the force-field that surrounded the holding cell, then opened the cell door for Carson, securing it closed behind him and reactivating the field. John felt unusually self conscious as the soldier nodded to him in acknowledgement. No wonder McKay had hated the wheelchair so damned much, it really did make people look at you differently. He could see the shock and pity in the soldier's eyes and it didn't sit well with John. He knew he probably looked like he had been hit by a twelve ton lorry, but that didn't mean he had to feel weak in front of a subordinate. He raised his head stiffly and straightened his spine, ignoring the way it popped and the grunt that escaped him, then nodded back with his best, I-am-still-in-charge-here face, before he looked towards Rodney again.

Sheppard wasn't quite sure how to feel, wasn't sure if he should be worried or relived for the man. There was something very wrong in seeing Rodney McKay so at peace. The man was a multitude of nervous ticks and constant movement, so much so that seeing him this utterly still was unnerving. He sighed as he rubbed at the bandage that tied his jaw to his head, the soft material itching his two day beard growth. He watched as Carson adjusted one of the pumps running Rodney's IV's, then scribbled in the notes by the pump. John's eyes was drooping somewhat when Carson looked back at him, clearly still weakened by his injuries and it prompted the doctor to exit the cell.

"We better get you back colonel, I need to get things in order and find out if Zelenka has that bloody containment thing yet."

John was grateful to be returning as his neck and shoulder were going into spasm and as Carson pushed John's wheelchair out into the corridor, he relaxed back into it with a sigh. But there came a high pitched scream from behind them and then all hell broke loose. The four soldiers in the corridor rushed in to the room, and Carson could not stop John from trying to race after them as he jumped out of the wheelchair to limp behind.

The screaming nurse was plastered against the back section of the cell, gripping the bars as if trying to get through them as she continued to whimper and scream sporadically. The guard, or what was left of him, was lying half in and half out of the cell door, little more than a bloodied corpse. Like a scene from a horror film, Rodney McKay stood, gore dripping from his mouth and down his clothes as he flexed his muscles and threw his head back to howl loudly. Only this wasn't a pretend scene from someone's twisted imagination acted out for the big screen, this was very, very real.

One of the soldiers opened fire, bullets tearing through Rodney's flesh as the man screamed in defiance at the death of his colleague. But Rodney stood his ground, squaring his sight on the man and smiled nastily. He wiped blood from his mouth and laughed at the expression on the soldiers face as the light from within burst through his wounds and began to heal them. Before the light faded, Rodney had moved at incredible speed to pounce on the soldier and John watched in horror as he tore into the man. As he ripped at the man, Rodney began to slowly change, his eyes being the first thing to turn as yellow colour spread over them, and it was all John needed to see.

"Get out! Everyone get out!" John ignored the agonizing pain that ripped through his face as he shouted, grabbing the others and pushing them back out of the room. "MOVE!"

He had to physically move Carson who was shouting fearfully for the scared nurse, but John knew there was nothing that they could do for her now. He had no idea how long it would be before the Nenec could fully transform. Now that it had eaten (and the very thought of it turned his stomach and made his blood run cold) it had the fuel it needed. But until it changed completely, they had a very slim chance of escape. He could hear the fallen soldier roaring and firing his gun, the nurse screaming her lungs out while John and the others ran for their lives, and he said a silent prayer that the poor unfortunate souls would die soon and end their agony. Even though it pained his heart, he was glad when the screams abruptly stopped and the gun fire silenced, and he felt sorrow when he heard a small cry from Carson. But the silence meant that Rodney, no the creature, had more fuel in its body and could transform any second.

Carson was huffing beside him as they ran through the corridors, trying to put as much distance between themselves and the horror as was possible. His eyes were wet and his pallid face was filled with fear and sorrow, but he still spared a worried glance at John.

"I'm fine, doc." He said as they all managed to reach the transporter at the far end of the corridor.

There was just enough room for them all to fit in and the doors seemed to take an eternity to close. They all shrieked in panic as a fully formed, enormous, snarling creature came barreling down the corridor towards them. It was huge, almost filling the corridor with its bulk as it's massive claws scraped on walls and the floor as it sped eagerly forward with a speed that shocked them. One soldier opened fire while the others screamed at the doors to close, as if it would make them shut quicker. The gun fire just further angered the Nenec and it lowered it's head to unleash a roar that hurt their ears as it ignited its force field around itself. The sight of the huge beast hurtling through the corridor, ablaze and snarling was terrifying and they each sighed out a breath of relief when the doors finally closed. John hit the control panel display to take them to the transporter nearest the infirmary, feeling the pull in his stomach as they were whisked away from the danger zone. As they exited the transporter and hurried to the infirmary, John tried not to show how badly he trembled from exhaustion.

"I have a plan." He said and Carson looked at him quizzically, raising a hand to steady John when he faltered.

But John gently pushed his hand away, there was no time to lose or waste over his own healing injuries. He had to stand tall, get this situation under control and he was sure he knew how. Problem was, he didn't think he would survive what he had in mind, nor Rodney for that matter, but he wasn't about to tell anyone that.

_TBC... Leave me some cookie comments! :D_

 


	15. Chapter 15

How humans had managed to propagate and spread so far and wide in the galaxy was completely beyond him, as their stupidity limited their ability to see the obvious, and he had laughed internally when they had not noticed his presence. They hadn't even realized or thought to question if his brain would be so completely different from theirs that it might not show on their silly machines if he were awake or not. They hadn't even noticed the shrinking of the wounds in his shoulder and thigh as his healing ability grew stronger, a clear sign that their friend was no longer in the body they had lain out on the bed. He had continued to lie there waiting as his strength grew, readying himself for action when an opportunity presented itself to grab something more filling that the liquid in the bags attached to his arm. The fools, they had no idea that what they fought to suppress was already there, resting in clear sight. And of course, they became a little more relaxed the longer he pretended to be the human McKay and affected by their serum and their ministrations.

The cell would be no problem, there wasn't much in this galaxy that could hold an angry Nenec in place, except perhaps the force field that surrounded the cell. Certain fields of energy reacted with his own natural field, a point that the Ring Makers had used to their advantage when they had developed the containment field weapon used specifically for his species. He had to wait for the perfect moment that the field was down, then he would unleash bloody rage upon these insignificant murdering animals. He didn't actually have to wait as long as he thought he might have, as the opportunity presented itself when the guard had allowed the doctor to leave. The soldier had hesitated to pull the nurse close and whisper something in her ear, to which she had giggled and fawned over the man like she was in heat. The sight made Daraal sick, but, their open display of readiness to mate had left him completely unguarded with an open exit, and he was on his feet and upon them before the guard or the nurse had the chance to breathe in the air to fuel their terrified screams.

It had been so easy to hold the nurse's mouth shut while he ripped the throat of her lover to shreds, relishing the taste of the fresh fuel. One large hand covering her tiny mouth was sufficient to hide his actions and the guard was unable to make a sound by that point anyway. He ripped and tore, swallowed and savoured the meat and warm liquid that pulsed down his throat; the fuel he had craved for so long it had hurt. So eager to enjoy this first meal, he threw the nurse to the side and grabbed the soldier's body in both hands then buried his head within its wet warmth. It didn't matter if she screamed now, he already had enough energy building within him that he was sure his healing ability would at least be in full working order to heal him from any attack. But everything else was sluggish and slow to react as his body had been starved for too long. In order to become his normal self, he needed more fuel, more sustenance to power his body through the transformation that would revive him completely. He could not chance trying to get to the nurse, what with her being inside the cage he had just escaped. He would not risk being closed in here again, knowing this was his only chance of getting out. So he was pleasantly surprised when another food source tried unsuccessfully to kill him and reluctantly allowed him to gorge on its tender body as the others flew the area. Daraal already felt his body's speedy change. The gun the man held fired uselessly at him, the wounds closing quicker than fresh bullets were hitting him and the more he ate the quicker his body became. By the time he finished and fed on the nurse, he was already halfway transformed and he had to duck down to exit the cage, his body already taller.

The others could run all they wanted, as in a few minutes he would be unstoppable and would hunt them down and kill them all. He stretched out his body as the softening noises of cracks and pops heralded the final changes taking form in his formidable body and he laughed in delight as his force field fired into life as strong and impenetrable as ever. Nothing could stop him now and he knew it. Breaking into a steady run, he followed the scent of the ones who had fled, they would be his next meals and would set him up for the destruction of every living thing on this city. Rounding the corner he saw them squeezing into a small room and hurried towards them , licking his lips at the thought of their sweet meat. The ineffectual gunfire from the smallest soldier just made him angry and it triggered a change in his body that forced his body to that of the size of the famed hell-nen of his planet. His muscles bulged as his body enlarged until he was twice the size he normally would be. Lengthened claws, longer teeth, sharper senses, and an even quicker more agile body. Snarling he boosted his force field and watched delightedly as fear sparked in the eyes of all his prey.

But the doors to the room began closing and he launched himself towards it with a roar. While he left a rather large dent in the door material, he knew the others were gone when their scent disappeared. Clawing the doors open, he had no idea what he was looking at and although he understood it to be a transport of some description, he had no idea how to activate it. Raising his head, he roared loudly in frustration, then bounded off to find another way back to the central city, and to the people he intended to slaughter.

o0o0o0o0o0o

Teyla had gone for a sleep after her researching shift, and Ronon had disappeared to his quarters to relax. So when they heard about what had happened in the computer lab, they hurried to the infirmary together, worried at what they would find there. They had only managed to glimpse Lorne and see that John was not where he should be when the group of men ran into the area; Carson clearly upset while John looked ready to collapse as the remaining soldiers stood wide eyed and breathless in the doorway. They all looked shell shocked and scared and as John staggered towards his bed, his exhaustion betrayed him when he stumbled. Carson failed to catch him, but Teyla nimbly moved beside him and gently steadied him beside her. John could feel her staring at him, knew that there was horror in her eyes at how bad he appeared, but he dared not look at her lest he concede to his limitations and give in to his injuries.

"Oh John..." She sighed sadly as she helped him settle beside his bed.

"Looks worse than it is." He lied as he leaned against the bed. "But I need you to contact Woolsey, tell him to place the city on red alert and initiate an immediate quarantine level shutdown of all floors and sections."

Even though she stared at him questioningly, she tapped her earpiece and did as he asked as he reached for the neatly folded clothes at his bedside. He gasped as he reached for the clothes and the pain from his ribs made his legs shake as he fought to stay in control. Ronon stood near, there in case John took a dive but not so close as to make him feel conscious of his weakness.

"Nice headband." He commented and John scowled before asking Carson if the thing was even necessary.

"Well, you were lucky it was a dislocation and not a fracture. I put it on to keep your mouth closed while you were sleeping, give it better support to heal. I'd be leaving it on since it's going to hurt like hell if you forget and open your mouth too wide..." John sighed, knowing that to take it off now would be to regret it later, especially as he was going to be running and probably fighting...and yelling, he didn't distracted by pain with what he was planning to do. He was seriously unimpressed when Ronon smirked.

"Contact Zelenka, see if he has found that damned containment field yet." He hoped he had or he was going to have to go with his first plan, which really wasn't one he wanted to follow. "And Carson, I need as much insulin as you have stocked."

Ignoring the quizzical looks of both men, he pulled a curtain round the bed enough to get dressed behind in privacy, and heard Teyla's soft voice through the fabric.

"John, Mr Woolsey has done as you asked, but wants to know what is going on."

John began to explain things to Ronon and Teyla between grunts of pain as he pulled on his clothes that seemed entirely too tight for him around his injured areas. Teyla was clearly upset, worried for Rodney while Ronon never said a single thing until the curtain was drawn back.

"Can you save him?" He asked as he helped John pull on his tac vest.

"I think so." He replied, not wanting to share the risks he already knew were all too possible and all too deadly.

Ronon nodded as Carson dumped vials of insulin in a pile on John's hospital bed.

"This is all I have, there isn't much call for it to be here but I stock it just in case." He said, the Scout in him showing through proudly. "Zelenka hasn't been able to locate the containment weapon, and doesn't think he will be able to any time soon."

John shook his head wearily; of course not, he just couldn't be that lucky. He placed his ear piece back in his ear, connecting briefly with Woolsey himself. He asked for continual updates of the location of the beast and while the base leader had little idea of John's plan, he trusted the colonel, knowing they had very little choice anyway.

"I need the biggest syringes and needles you have and I want all that insulin drawn up into as many you can fill."

"I don't think there is enough to fill even two of them, John. I can see where you are going with this but surely the force field will stop you from even getting it into the skin?"

"You let me worry about that, doc. You and Teyla, head on down to the ascension machine and get everything ready for us coming in. Be ready, we will only get one chance at this." He said gravely as he motioned for the remaining soldiers to accompany them. He knew their weapons were useless against the beast, but he didn't want Carson, Teyla and Zelenka waiting down there themselves if things went pear shaped.

Woolsey's voice sounded in his earpiece and informed him that the creature wasn't easy to trace, that it flitted in and out of their sensors, disappearing and reappearing in a different place. But it still seemed to be confined to the floor where the holding cell was, and so John requested that backup be sent down to meet them at the main bulkhead door on that floor. If his plan played out the way he hoped, he would need the help of more than just himself and Ronon to get the creature to the ascension lab.

Before leaving with Teyla and the soldiers, Carson approached John and forced him to sit down as he pulled a syringe from his pocket and uncapped it. "This isn't something I would normally do, but given the circumstances..." John made to refuse but Carson shook his head and pushed the colonels sleeve up. "For the pain, and to boost your strength. I promise it wont dull your senses, quite the opposite in fact." A few moments after Carson jabbed the needle into his skin, John began to feel the benefit of the injection and nodded his thanks to the doctor as he got to his feet a little less shaky that before.

"I guess it's you and me, big guy." He said to Ronon, as if he hadn't intended to have him come with him, which he had; he had a plan after all.

"Guess it is." Ronon said as they all exited the infirmary, going their separate ways. "Care to share the plan?" He asked as they made their way as quick as John was able, to the lower levels of the base.

"Not really, kinda going out on a limb with this one." He admitted.

"Thought as much." Ronon replied.

They met up with the five marines Woolsey had sent at the main bulkhead door of the place the Nenec was last seen on the sensor, and John took a moment to bring them up to speed.

"This creature is huge. Your weapons are useless against it. It's fast, ugly and able to transform itself into an even more dangerous beast. Now, I know you're probably wondering why the hell we're not just blowing the damned thing up. Well, this thing has Doctor McKay trapped inside it. Don't ask, there's no time to explain. All I need you to do, is help me get it back to the ascension lab if I manage to take it down. If I don't, then get the hell out of here and lock this place down until we have a solution. Stay alert and for god sake, don't take any unnecessary risks, this thing will eat you if you give it the chance."

He saw the fear in their eyes and was glad it was there. He didn't need them to be heroes, he only needed them to help bring Rodney back. As the bulkhead door was opened for them, John sighed and peered into the somewhat dark space that opened before them.

"Here goes." He said, then walked into the dimly lit corridor to begin their search for the Nenec.

o0o0o0o0o0o

Oh how very clever they thought they were, closing him in this labyrinth of corridors with no obvious hope of making it to the upper levels. But it seemed they had not figured on his strength and inherent abilities. Perhaps they did not realise that it was only a matter of time before he broke out and went on his rampage. But, he had to be careful of how he expended his energy as he had already consumed what appeared to be the only fuel available on this level, and he needed to be fighting fit for when they returned. And they would return, he knew, with some misguided need to save the man he had already taken residence over. So long as he could eat, he was never relinquishing hold over this body again. He could feel it now, there was no longer the slipping of mind, the lessening of consciousness over time. He felt in complete control as if the human McKay was gone and he was now the only entity in this body. And what a body it was too.

He had managed to fuel himself to full Hell-nen mode, felt the increase of power as he ran quicker than he'd ever had, through the corridors when he chased the humans. His force field was so bright and the flames so deliciously hot, perfectly shielding him from bullets shot in such panic. But that particular mode burned through such vast amounts of energy that he had to come down from the high to his normal Nenec stature in order to conserve it for when he needed it most. He still had the ability to become Hell-nen, so he kept his reserves ready for when he got loose, and satisfied himself with waiting on the humans returning. Until, that was, he saw his best chance of getting out and decided to take it. The humans didn't stand a chance.

His specialized eyes allowed him to see walls as almost transparent, giving him ghosting images of what lay within and on the other side of any wall. Internal power conduits were clearly lit, pulsing brightly to his eyes. Hidden mechanisms and modules were easily seen and therefore accessible to him through brute force once discovered. He had managed to locate a large bulkhead door, through which he was sure he would escape to the inner city, and was in the process of breaking into the internal mechanism when he saw movement on the other side of the wall.

It was a team of stealthily moving humans, one of whom he recognized as the John Sheppard he had previously encountered, knowing it simply by the faint impression of the dancing lights in the man's head that he managed to perceive through the wall. The group steadily drew nearer and he had no doubt that they would not open the door if they knew he was there and from what he had gleaned from McKay's memory on his frequent brushes with it, John would know that he was there. So he pulled the hand he had embedded in the bulkhead door from the jagged hole he had made, and fled deeper into the corridor to wait. Drawing on his experience of stealthy concealment, taught to him by his parents during the years hiding from the Ring Makers, he found a nook in which to stand and set to making his body invisible to their sensors. His parents had taught him how to use his force field as a way to fool sensor equipment, rendering them useless in any attempt to discover a Nenec who wished to remain hidden. By slowing down his internal processes, he could pull his field close to his body and change its frequency to make his body appear as nothing but a background noise. This meant that he could remain hidden until they were right next to him, and take them out before they even realized he was there. Then, using them as fuel, he would have more than enough energy to break out of the level and continue his plan. He had already been doing this, intermittently and subconsciously, but now he concentrated on it, and smiled at the thought of their reaction to seeing him disappear from existence.


	16. Chapter 16

"How can I back you up if I don't know the plan?" Ronon grunted as the door closed behind them.

"All I need is for you and the others to let me do my thing, then get the creature to the ascension lab."

"Yeah, but what are you going to do?"

Tension began to build behind his eyes and he questioned the wisdom of coming down here in the physical state he was in. Of course, Ronon and the others would undoubtedly step in should he fail, but he didn't want anyone else attempting what he was going to. At the end of the day, there was no denying the risk of what was involved, for it required submitting himself to the wrath of the Nenec. To even get close to this thing, meant certain harm and probable death, but in order to introduce vast amounts of insulin into the creature, he had to bypass its force field. Having mused over the problem while running for his life, he found the only obvious weakness in the Nenec's armour; its mouth. In order for it to eat, it had to place things in said mouth, but anything that passed through the force field would burn up before ever getting close, therefore, the force field had a weakness. And he planned to exploit it. This was the reason he would not disclose his plan to the others, he knew they would stop him. But he was desperate to take the Nenec down before it killed anyone else and get McKay back with no harm to the man, and he was positive that everyone else would not think twice about blowing the Nenec up. Maybe that was a bit harsh, he knew everyone would do their best to get Rodney back if they could, but the fact that the Nenec could quite easily kill everyone on Atlantis, meant it would be taken down whether Rodney was back or not. The reason he was so intent on doing this alone, without any shoot out that would only cause minimal damage to the Nenec, if any, was because he knew that when the Nenec had been shot before, it was Rodney that bore the wounds after the transformation back. He couldn't take the chance of a misjudged shot that resulted in a head wound to the creature, in case it became a kill shot for McKay.

"Something stupid." He admitted. "Something very stupid and you need to let me do it." Ronon nodded as if the answer was what he had been expecting, but he didn't appear happy about it.

The corridors seemed longer and far sinister than John remembered and he had a hard time believing they were the same corridors he had walked so many times before. Being in a dangerous situation made mundane things feel malevolent and that alone heightens the senses until every shadow takes on a life with perceived evil intent. John knew his unease for what it was; a tired and scared mind jumping at things that didn't exist for fear that the one evil that did exist, suddenly appeared and attacked. It was with this constant unease that John and the others slowly made their way deeper in to the labyrinth, each of them feeling the same dread that deepened with every step.

Their senses, straining in fear and expectation, failed to pick up any noise that might have betrayed the location of the Nenec, and with the sensor failing to pick up any sign of it, they were walking blind. Even Ronon seemed more grim than usual, his brows furrowed in concentration, his mouth pulled into an angry scowl. The other men, hardened soldiers who had seen too much action over the years, never faltered in their steps but looked as wary as Ronon. Not one of the group became spooked or lost it though if they had, no one would have blamed them. The atmosphere was positively suffocating and John wondered somewhat distractedly if the feeling was similar to being closed within an anechoic chamber with the lights out.

Passing the holding cell, John's stomach heaved at the sight of what remained of the three casualties from earlier. He heard one of the others gag then choke down a strangled noise and felt his own bile rising. Ronon grunted beside him and he could almost feel the anger radiating from the man. It was with renewed determination that they walked on, their resolve bolstered by the sight of fallen colleagues. The thought of the destruction the Nenec could cause in the city was frightening, but John knew that there would be one among them that would take it the worst; Rodney McKay. Even though the scientist was not the one to cause any of the deaths, John was sure that should they save him, it would take a long time to put him back together again, if they could. Despite it being the actions of the Nenec, John knew that Rodney would ultimately blame himself for the deaths, and he prayed that the memories of the ghastly murders would not remain for Rodney to experience. With the crash, he had seen first hand the fragility of Mckay, and he had no doubt that whatever the Nenec did, Rodney's mind would splinter should he be privy to what had happened while he was suppressed. Going by Rodney's dreams and the fact that Daraal seemed to have some of McKay's knowledge, John was sure that the sharing of memories went both ways and Rodney would at least know some of what had happened while dormant.

The longer they walked and found nothing, the more frayed their nerves became. John began to wonder if the damned thing had already escaped the level, but given that there were no screams of panic coming from his earpiece, he could only assume that was not the case. As he rounded a corner onto the next set of corridors, he signaled for the others to stop. At first he wasn't sure what had made him raise his hand to halt them, he hadn't heard or seen anything. But then, he had _felt_ something. The temperature in this section seemed to be a little warmer than the other parts they had walked through. The heat brought forth the memory of his arms being burned under the intense heat of the Nenec's flames and he knew without a doubt that it was there, very near them. Straining his ears he listened for any sound that might tell him where the creature was, but with the exception of the others breathing, he heard nothing. Then a shadow up ahead seemed to ripple and shudder and as he watched, it grew and moved into clear view.

He heard the others sharp intake of breath as the huge Nenec made its presence known, standing way taller than John could have imagined and looking so much more terrifying. Each breath it took sounded audibly within its chest and it stared at them with its unusual eyes, making no effort to move. The force field shimmered around it's body like a blue haze a centimeter or two above its skin, the flames melding into a smooth surface that would have been barely visible in normal lighting. They might as well have been pointing feathers at the creature, for all the notice it took of their raised weapons; it knew they could not harm it. Cocking it's head, it licked at its lips and stared at John intently.

"You look so much different since we last spoke." Daraal said, his voice a deep rumbling, the words overly pronounced. "A little more...tenderized..." John shuddered as it bared its teeth in a smile, and he could imagine what that huge mouth could do to him."You think that you are going to take me down with your pitiful weapons? You are even more stupid than I first thought. But, if you insist on taking me on, I will be more than happy to use your flesh to power my own."

John watched the Nenec's mouth as it spoke and his suspicions were confirmed when he saw the blue haze of its force field terminate around the edges of the teeth filled maw.

"This ends now, Daraal." John said as he covertly moved the insulin primed syringes into his hands.

Daraal laughed, a loud guttural noise that hurt their ears as it echoed off the walls. "For you perhaps, yes." Daraal winked one of his awful eyes and burned his field higher, the heat in the space rising considerably, to the point that John felt sweat bead on his forehead within a few seconds.

As if the thing wasn't big enough, the Nenec straightened itself up, pulling back its shoulders while straightening its legs until it stood at its full and unbelievable height. It looked down on them with unmistakable hunger in its eyes, and pulled it's mouth wider into a wicked, tooth filled grin.

"Ahh you humans. So small and insignificant, yet filled with thoughts of superiority. If I didn't despise your species, I would find you quite amusing." Daraal cocked his head as he spoke, raising a hand and flicking his tongue out to lick at the massive claws that lengthened as they stared at them.

John swallowed hard, not quite believing how utterly ludicrous his plan actually was, feeling a momentary panic as he realised he had led the other men to their inevitable deaths. He wanted to turn to the others and offer an apology for bringing them to their early demise, and probably would have done if Daraal hadn't started to laugh.

It started as a deep rumble that began to shake his mighty frame until he opened his mouth wide and laughed loudly. It was hard not to stare at the many long, sharp teeth and it made every one of them swallow down a hard gulp at the thought of what those razor sharp teeth could do to their flesh. The laughter stopped abruptly and Daraal lowered his head and eyed each of them in turn, his nostrils flaring with every breath. His shoulder rolled and he took a deep breath then closed his eyes. Then, with a growl that grew in intensity and strength, he began to change. The growl became a deafening roar as he grew taller, inching higher as his bones increased in length. His frame began to bulge and skin tightened, looking as if someone was using a bicycle pump to inflate him, only it was not air in there, but firm dense muscle. His skin rippled as it tightened over the thick musculature, darkening in colour while the turquoise scales brightened. As his growl quietened, his eyes snapped open and he watched them while the noise of cracking and popping lessened as his body settled into its new form. He was huge, impossibly huge and over twice the size he had been been moments before. Daraal had had to stoop a little before his head hit the ceiling, then with a triumphant smile, he ignited his field until the blue flames flickered fiercely around his body. The men looked up at him and he laughed at their terrified expressions; they really didn't stand a chance.

Despite his panic and what he thought as his immense error in judgment, John stood his ground. In fact, he took a step forward towards the abomination, making sure that Daraal would attack him first. The beast stared at him and he saw the sneer, the killing intent and the blood lust in the its eyes and even though he quaked inside, he had never felt so determined to bring the monster down as he did in that moment.

"Ronon." He said, turning his head only slightly. "Make sure you all stay back until I give you the signal. And don't harm it if you can, Understand?"

Ronon grunted in reply, he really didn't understand, but John was sure that the Satedan would keep the others back, even when he realised what John was planning. Despite what had happened between them, Ronon still trusted John and it was then that Sheppard felt saddened that he would not be able to strengthen their friendship again, and apologize properly for the drunken tirade that had torn them apart.

Daraal lowered his head, raised his clawed hands and roared loudly, his field becoming a blinding, scorching heat that made the corridor feel like the insides of a furnace. He tensed then launched himself forwards but John surprised him by launching at the same time, heading towards the charging beast as if he had a death wish. John roared back defiantly, even as he heard the shocked shouts coming from the men behind him. Raising his arms, he readied the syringes, holding them in his tight fingers as his thumbs covered the plungers, ready to inject the insulin into the beast. He hoped he had the angle right and that Daraal would not deviate from his attack or figure out John's plan. As it was, Daraal took little notice of what was in John's hands, such was his belief in his force field's ability to protect him. But he batted at John, connecting with his left arm and John screamed as the arm snapped, the syringe in the hand flew out, to skitter across the corridor.

Then huge hands clamped around John, burning claws that encircled his waist and chest and squeezed more painful cries from the foolhardy man. Daraal seemed to be reveling in the noises and quite happily toyed with John Sheppard, the man who thought he could destroy him. He raised and lowered his field from hand to hand, giving respite to one side while burning the other and vice versa until John was little more than a whimpering meat sack. He did it in such a way that John knew it was deliberate control and torture as the field burned but did not scorch as it had Evan Lorne. But that didn't stop John crying out in agony until he thought he was going to die. But then, he had always known there was very little chance of him surviving this encounter. Gritting his teeth he thought of why he had made the decision to do this. The men behind him. Rodney, buried within the beast that tortured him. Techs, medics, marines, Athosians; it didn't matter who they were, it only mattered that they survived. If, against all odds, this idea somehow worked, his sacrifice wouldn't be such a bad thing. If he saved those he loved and considered family, and those who had become family by extension, he would rest in peace with the knowledge that he had saved them from this horrible, painful death. He smiled despite the pain, smiled as he looked the Nenec straight in the eye, and then grinned broadly. Pulling on every bit of strength he had left, he even laughed as he raised his unbroken arm, satisfaction blossoming within him at the look of confusion and sudden fear that descended over the Nenec's face.

Darral had been somewhat shocked when the man had unexpectedly ran towards him, arms raised and roaring. He had grabbed at the man and squeezed, earning a lovely chorus of screams and moans that were music to his ears. He was somewhat confused as to why the other men were being held back by the larger one, and completely puzzled as to why, despite being in so much obvious pain, John Sheppard was now smiling. One arm was hanging limp over Daraal's massive hand, but as he smiled, he watched as John raised the other as if to hit him in the face. This of course would be useless, but then the hand struck lower down and he was shocked when something sharp bit into the soft flesh near the back of his throat, breaking through his only weak spot to strike a wound. It angered Daraal that this poxy human had the audacity to think that he could possibly harm him, had the gall to attempt to in the first place. He shook John hard, then pulled him closer, lunging his head forward with a snarl. As he brought the man to his mouth, he bit down hard on John's shoulder and delighted in the screams he tore from Sheppard as his tongue lapped the gushing wound. John shrieked as Daraal ground his jaw deliberately, the sound of it barely audible above the creature's snarling.

When he had sank his teeth into John's skin, it wasn't with the intent of tearing the man to pieces. It was purely to cause as much pain and suffering to the man as he could without killing him. Killing was easy, too easy for one such as he. But the control he needed not to snap the man in two, was rewarded with the shrieks and howls that filled the air. Grinding his teeth, they pulled on sensitive nerves and severed skin with precise torture. He still wondered why the others were not trying to help, but thought that perhaps they realised that they could not harm him, though why they watched and not flee, was beyond him. The man squirmed and twisted in his hands and he felt the pressure on his field as John struck at his head fruitlessly.

John felt the skin on his fist and forearm blister and burn under the heat of the force field that ensured none of his hits even touched the intended target. Reaching up he tried to pull the mouth free, knowing that if he didn't, he would lose a massive chunk of flesh when the Nenec pulled away. And as he began to despair and fade away, he saw it; the first sign that the insulin was doing the job he had expected it to. The force field fluttered at first, changing from the super hot blue to flames of a cooler orange, then Daraal staggered, and that was when John screamed for Ronon.

Quicker than he had expected, the large Satedan and one of the other men were upon them, both grasping at the Nenec's mouth, attempting to free John, who then slid out of the Nenec's grasp when it raised its hands to attack the others. But it was clear that Daraal's strength was fading fast and he shook his head as if trying to clear its mind, looking on with confusion as the men piled on top of him, pinning him down. He floundered, his arms and legs refusing to do as he asked them to, his force field then puttering out of existence. Where he lay, he saw John, lying on his side, smiling with victory and all he wanted to do was rip the flesh from his body. Quivering, warm, succulent flesh. And then it hit him what the the man had done and he was surprised by the intelligence of this human. As he his strength disappeared, it occurred to him that this was all to do with Rodney McKay and his complete inability to keep his body fueled properly. The thought stirred him into a weak action to take a bite from the man nearest him, get some fuel into his body to counteract the effects of whatever it was that John had stabbed him with, but the man twisted on his side and yelled for the others to avoid his mouth. He felt the largest man press down on his face, forcing it into the ground so his jaws remained closed.

John pulled himself across the floor on his stomach, watching as he carefully passed the Nenec and the men on top of it. His left arm was useless and the right was impeded by the bite to his shoulder but he put every last effort into getting that second syringe and finishing the job he had started.

"What now?!" Ronon was roaring but John ignored him, it was all he could do to keep on moving and crawl back towards them with the syringe.

Even though the Daraal was weakened, he managed a desperate attempt to rid himself of the men around him and fuel his body. He thrashed and hit out, his claws raking down the side of one of the marines who screamed and fell to the side. With the last of his energy he went into a frenzy that managed to throw off Ronon, who smacked onto the wall with a sickening thud and slid down it, looking dazed and half conscious. The other men struggled to keep the beast down and Daraal used all of his remaining strength to bite and claw at anything within reach. But the men were quicker than he was, and managed to save themselves from too much harm. When the energetic moment ended, Daraal collapsed back onto the ground, heaving in breaths as he tried to gather enough strength to fight again. But John Sheppard was now level with him, and Daraal saw the other deadly syringe in his hand. Sheppard was aware of the tears that were falling from his own eyes and he shuddered at what he was about to do. He lay on his side, breathless and grunting in pain, and as he looked into his frightening eyes of Daraal who managed to turn his head to stare at him, he almost felt pity for the thing. But when he could not see a single sign of his beloved friend in that hostile gaze, all sympathy disappeared. Now that the force field was down, John didn't need to get it in Daraal's mouth, and simply sank the needle into the beast neck as he watched terror suddenly blossom on the Nenec's face.

"I would take the chance of killing my best friend, to get him back and rid the universe of you."

Daraal tried to move, scream, roar, anything to break free of the darkness that was beginning to cover his mind in a foggy blanket of nothing. But he knew he would have the last laugh, as John had no idea how very true his words actually were. There was no sign of Rodney McKay left, not one firing neuron belonged to the bumbling scientist. Daraal fell unconscious with a final thought of triumph, knowing that John Sheppard would forever blame himself for the death of his friend.

As the creature exhaled for the last time, the men pulled back somewhat warily, scared that the Nenec was faking and might pounce again. But when its eyes rolled back in its head and it shrank back to normal Nenec size, it was clear that it was gone. John fought against passing out as he lay there panting in fear, watching for the transformation to continue until it became Rodney again. When it appeared that nothing more would happen, he slowly dragged himself closer, the other men standing silently by.

"Come on, change..." He hissed through his clenched teeth as he reached a burned and blistered hand to the giant scaled head before him. "Come on Rodney, change back Godamnit! CHANGE! Why won't you...change...!" His voice petered off to a barely audible whisper.

The Nenec was dead and gone, and with it died any hope of bringing Rodney McKay back into existence. Something inside of John died and withered away within his chest. He felt a hand on his back, meaning to impart some kind of strength or condolence but John was too far gone to work out which. A rather sickly looking Ronon got down on his knees beside him as one of the marines contacted Carson to tell him what had happened.

"You tried Sheppard. It's all anyone could have asked for." His voice was gentle, softer than John had ever heard it and he knew that Ronon was breaking inside too. He found he didn't have the strength to reply and closed his eyes, laying his head on the cold floor and wishing a hole would open up beneath his broken body and swallow him. He felt Ronon push his hands beneath his limp damaged frame then lift him into his arms, yet he didn't cry out at the agony the action caused, too weak to even whimper. "Let's get you seen to."

John's head lolled backwards over Ronon's arm, allowing him to see the upside down view of Daraal, and he continued to stare at the dead monster as Ronon slowly walked away, feeling the tears that stung his eyes tricking down the sides of his face and down into his hair.

"I'm sorry Rodney." He whispered hoarsely. "I am so sorry."

"Hey, hey!" The marine who had spoken to Carson was running towards them, his hand still pressed to his ear. "Doctor Beckett says we have to get it to the ascension lab pronto, says it might not be too late!"

The door ahead opened and more marines came running into the corridor, Woolsey having sent them after following everything on the open com. Ronon continued walking, his hold on John tightening when he shook and contorted with pain before finally passing out cold. When a team of medics ran in with a gurney and helped him place John onto it, Ronon's legs gave way and he sank to his knees without a sound. He stayed there, swaying on his knees as he watched John being hurried away on the gurney, then a shudder passed through him as he made a noise that almost sounded like a sob. But no one would ever say they saw him cry, no one would live to see another day if they had. But Ronon Dex sat back on his heels and wept. He wept for the loss of his friend and cried at the suffering of another. Yet he would blame his head injury for it, not the fact his heart was as shattered as John's.

_TBC..._


	17. Chapter 17

 

"Firewall!" Radek exclaimed, throwing his hands to his head in disbelief. "It's the firewall!"

Teyla looked at him quizzically, then turned towards Carson who appeared just as confused as she. "What is a firewall?" She asked, having heard the term before but didn't really knew what it meant.

"It's a security thing for computers..." Carson started, only to be interrupted by an excited Radek.

"No, no, no. You are right of course, but not this firewall. They named the containment field Firewall!" He said as he pushed his glasses up his nose, all but jumping at his finding.

"The containment field for the Nenec? You have finally found it?" Asked Teyla.

"Yes! Yes! At first I thought it was as Doctor Beckett said, the computer security program we all know, but it isn't! It is an actual wall of fire that they called the Firewall!"

"Given that by all reports, the thing is dead, it doesn't really matter now. Sounds as though they really had needed it though." Carson said sadly.

"It wouldn't have helped them anyway, this isn't the mobile one that the ancients speak of, but the firewall for this system, for the ascension machine. It must have been made specifically with the Nenec in mind and installed before bringing it on board as it isn't an original feature of the machine."

His hands flew over the console in front of him and within seconds there came was a wooshing noise that signalled the start up of the Firewall. Surrounding the podium, a wall of blue flames ignited, flowing upwards until the area was completely enclosed within blue flames. Only the floor and a small part of machinery on the ceiling was not touched by the flames and Carson shook his head in wonder.

"This is what burned John's arms? No wonder they were in such a state." He said as Radek pressed another button and the flames began to flutter out, sinking back down until they disappeared completely. "If only they'd had the mobile version when they took the thing on."

The doors swished open behind them and they turned to see Richard Woolsey, accompanied by two rather large, rather furry companions, both towering over the base commander.

"Doctor Beckett, Doctor Zelenka, Teyla. I am sure you all know Bann-sagee Kalisat and Sanac, his trusted body guard?"

"Mees Teyla!" Bann's voice boomed as he moved forward to embrace her, the tiny woman becoming lost within his giant arms. "So long it being since eyes mine be seeing you! You look seem well and healthy."

"Ah Bann-Sagee, it is so good to see you!" She replied as he finally let her go.

"Rah, Bann, none Bann-Sagee from you." He smiled, not wanting to hear formalities from those he considered close friends. "I been well me, and recovered most us have been from shock and put buried loved ones lost. Hard, most hard. But, strong are people of mine." His face changed from the happy smile to an angry frown. "Meetur Richard kind ruler, when told me of Tanyak foul being on Atlantis, offered me to come see foul beasts disposal. Gesture kind since our grief partly involved with yours. Not me missing it, see with mine eyes own a scourge destroyed and go back tell all people Muo of safety now."

His expression softened and he placed his hand against Teyla's face, his large thumb stroking gently on her cheek. "Hearing be me of Meetur Rodney gone demise and Meetur John wounded bad terribly by hands of scourge beast."

"We haven't lost hope of yet, Bann." She said, managing to smile despite the pain in her heart.

"Ah hope me I, that all wonderful ancient machine restore does Meetur Rodney. And of course," he turned towards Carson whose face was a picture of dejection. " Meetur Carson here be also, great man of the medicines. I have doubt none, that if any person restore can, it be through Meetur Carson." Bann beamed at the little doctor, whose face turned several shades of red.

"Well, if there is any hope Bann, I will certainly work with it to the best of my abilities." He said, softly smiling towards the giant Muoan. "Admittedly, it would have been more likely if the damned thing was alive."

"How so be it?"

"Well, in death, the body begins to degrade and where ever Rodney is hidden, it stands to reason that his cells or DNA would degrade also. The sooner they get that thing here, the better."

As if his words had summoned them, seven huge marines man handled the beast through the doors, each of them sweating with exertion and breathless.

"Dear god...look at the size of that thing..." Carson said as he took a reflexive step back from the approaching jumble of people.

Bann and Sanac, behind his mask, bared their teeth and hissed a noise that sounded not unlike the shaking of a rattle snake tail. The men struggled to haul the beast more than another few feet before dropping it and stepping backwards wary and exhausted.

"It's...it's not...dead..." one of them said, panting before sliding to the ground, a hand covering a long scratch on his arm. "It's very weak...but it's not dead."

Indeed, when they looked, the beast was staring at them through half closed eyes. There was a hunger in that heavy lidded gaze that made Carson shudder, knowing what it would do to him given the chance. When it's eyes fell upon Bann and Sanac, they opened wider, glaring at them with so much hunger and hatred that it was almost palpable. Attempting to rise, it managed no more than to turn on its side, reaching a giant hand towards the Muoans who glared at it with contempt. Pulling its lips back, it sneered at them, baring its teeth in a wicked display of desired intent but it was a wasted gesture. It did not even have the strength to get itself up from the ground and so lay there pitifully, like a powerful machine reduced to nothing but a rusting hulk. Immobile and impotent.

For a few seconds no one moved or made a sound, the loud shallow breathing of the Nenec filling the silence until a voice spoke. Barely a whisper, the voice carried easily to all present, and despite being so weak, the despising hostility was not lost on them.

"Filthy abominations...all of you...cowards of the greatest degree..." Daraal wheezed as he eyed every one of them. "How weak in mind...and spirit you are...to fight in such...a pitiful way...At least John...Sheppard had the bravery of...a warrior to match me...all I see now...are cowards..."

Carson gulped as the baleful eye fell on him and he couldn't quite manage to tear his eyes away from it. Behind him, Radek all but tried to hide himself as Teyla stood strongly before them both. Richard Woolsey had taken a step back, noting that if there was still a strength to speak so wilfully, there was still a will to do damage and perhaps, an ability to cause it. But it was Bann that surprised them the most when he strode forward and crouched near the beast, so close as to place himself in danger of attack. Sanac followed and stood strong behind him, his kuntash raised and ready.

"Tanyak bold you being, yet dying thinks me." Bann said as he looked over the monster before him. Daraal merely sneered at him, continuing to stare angrily at the Muoan. "Me thinks, what happened you and people of yours, was thing of terrible awful. If way there was to being peace, it could be no dying for you today."

Woolsey gasped, outraged at Bann's proposal and shocked that he would offer one. Sanac stiffened behind his leader, clearly aghast at Bann's words.

"Peace?" Daraal cocked his head slowly, a look of surprise on his scaled face. "Peace with...Muoans? And how...would this peace work...?"

"Find you others kin? Home somewhere tanyak be, live life of yours again."

"Do you realise what you are proposing?" Woolsey screeched when it looked as if Daraal was considering the offer.

"Bann-Sagee, how can be you offer such? Mindful being of what it did at great son's honoured celebration!"

"Mind I do! Cease doubting me! Our ancient kin, and their ancient kin," He said, gesturing to all in the room. "Be of reason for this! Be of the torture of this soul! Sitting over thinking all of this I have been, wondering how hate built upon actions of our ancients. Time perhaps being to offer peace and seek forgiveness for culling of sentient beasts."

Sanac lowered his head and closed his eyes in acquiesce, his mouth pulled in a frown behind his ornate half mask. All others simply stared at the Muoan leader as if he had gone mad. Then there came a quiet laughter that was little more than a breathless wheezing.

"There will be no peace...Even if you manage to kill me off...there are many Nenec out there...hiding on many planets...growing in numbers while they bide their time for the...war against you all."

Bann lowered his huge head and shook it sadly. "Guessed at me that being answer you give, but try for mine own soul I had to. No peace then, but prepared my people be for future war of your people. If, that is, the threat of yours is real."

"Oh it's real, you see, all you need to is read back the logs of Rodney McKay's computer to find the message I sent to them all!"

It was Woolsey's time to gulp and he looked towards Radek with a worried glance as the scientist scrambled to a console and quickly checked to find any outgoing beacons or messages that no one had noticed. Woolsey's face slackened and paled when Radek looked back at him and nodded his head.

"Matters not. All scattered to winds and planets wide you say. Time we have to find all, end scourge before even begins." Bann made to stand, shaking his head as he got back to his feet, not noticing when the clawed hand of the Nenec reached slowly out to grab him.

Sanac roared and pushed Bann to the side, slamming his kuntash down heavily towards Daraal. But the Nenec was so desperate that it made him less weak than he had led them to believe and he twisted his body out of the way of the lethal blade, turning to grab hold of Sanac and drag him to the ground. As the Muin struggled to get out of his hold, Daraal grabbed his chest armor and tore it off before sinking his teeth through the thick fur and deep into flesh. With a roar, Sanac managed to smash his kuntash across the back of Daraal's head, dazing the beast enough to get himself free. But the damage was already done; Daraal, having sucked on the sweet Muin blood, had fuel enough to power himself to his feet and reach out for more fuel. The fuel he reached for was non other than Richard Woolsey, who screamed as he threw his arms over his head and crouched low in an attempt to make himself a smaller target. As Daraal's claws came within inches of the man's skin, the beast was hit by two charging Muoan's who lofted his huge thrashing body into the hair amid his angry snarls and hissing. Unable to power his forcefield, Daraal writhed in the hold of the Muoan's and felt what little energy he had gained from Sanac, quickly disappear.

"Over here!" Teyla shouted, pointing to the podium as Radek readied the console.

Daraal seemed to hover for a moment before he flew through the air to land with a grunt on the very place he was reawakened so many weeks before. He scrabbled to his feet, rushing to get away from the accursed machine, only to see the Firewall burst into life and surround him like a living wall of flames. Screaming, he charged at the forcefield, bouncing off it to land on his back. Looking though the dancing flames, he stared at the distorted faces that peered in at him.

"This is not the end! My revenge will become another's and you will all be destroyed!"

As Bann tended to Sanac, Woolsey crossed the room to peer over Radek's shoulder. "What do we do now?"

"I am not sure! I do not know this system and have had very little time to learn it. If Rodney was here he..." Radek shook his head, realising that the man who he spoke of, no longer existed. "Give me a minute."

Daraal's strength had left him and he stood swaying in the middle of the podium looking out at them. With what little energy he had left, he began a litany of insults and promises interspersed with maniacal laughter that soon began to unnerve those in the room.

"Let me have a look," Carson pushed in. "Maybe I can recognise something that will help."

"...and they will crush your bones beneath their feet as they march over your lands..."

"Every second that thing has control, Rodney's hopes of return diminish." Radek informed them, prompting Carson to pull a you-don't-have-to-tell-me face at him.

"..the blood of your people will be spilled without any thought and the Nenec will relish in fuelling their bodies with yours..."

"Wait! There!" Teyla pointed to a file named Activimentor. "That might be what you are looking for. Activiment was a word known to be ancient for activate when using the gate. Perhaps that file is the one you seek?"

"Well it's as good a guess as any I suppose." Carson double clicked the file, hoping it was the right one to bring Rodney back. The screen opened up a menu with three buttons; Reintegrate, Disintegrate and Erase. "Well, here goes..."

"...and I can see it all! I can see your deaths as clearly as I killed you myself! I will die and take your precious Rodney McKay with me and I know that John Sheppard will not survive the night! I may not see the war, but I started it!" The laughter that erupted so insanely loud from his mouth stopped abruptly. Daraal stared down at his feet, his look of hatred giving way to an expression of abject fear and he then began to scream. His screams filled the room as they all looked on in revulsion as a sentient being was once again subjected to the horrific process that the ancients had designed specifically for it. For the second time in his short life, Daraal S'unu't endured the agonizing procedure that would see him and his genome split into its smallest components and fed into the data banks of Atlantis. The burning in his feet increased until it became a pain so excruciating that even the hardened warrior Sanac had trouble listening to the screams with any comfort. They watched on as his feet became nothing but dust like particles, which swirled around his legs as if coaxing the rest of his body to join them. Daraal's claws dug deeply into his thighs as if he was attempting to tear his own legs off but it would not help him to. Until the process reached his middle torso, Daraal was conscious and aware of everything that was happening to him and the noises he made let them know of his awareness and pain. When his screams finally stopped, it was with the blessed relief of oblivion that Daraal passed out, and they were all grateful that the beast didn't have to endure the rest of the process.

What remained of Daraal came apart like a puff of smoke, the particles only visible because they were clumped together in a cloud like structure. The cloud swirled within the confines of the Firewall, circling quicker and quicker until they were barely visible any more and then suddenly, they shot upwards into a receiver at the top of the machine structure. The Firewall spluttered then died as the machine powered down and Daraal was gone. Carson looked at Radek, who looked at Teyla whose face held a sickly expression of disgust. The entire scene had left them with yet another reason to question the actions and wisdom of the ancients, so admired and revered in the Pegasus galaxy.

"What now?" Radek asked, visibly shaking and trying to hide it.

"I guess, we hit reintegrate?" Carson replied, his voice a little higher than usual.

"Wait, what are those files, they were not there a second ago." Teyla mentioned as she pointed at the screen.

Within the Activimentor menu, there were now two files, each labelled differently; hominis and non humanan. It was clear what they both meant, but whether or not the files were complete on both accounts, would not be seen until each of them were brought back into existence. The fact that there was a file that implied a human attribute, made Carson feel a little easier than he had.

"Ready?" He asked the waiting, now crowded people who had all squashed in around him to watch.

Pressing the file brought up the same menu as before and so he pressed the reintegrate button and held his breath. The Firewall ignited automatically, obviously a security measure in case the Nenec was not completely separate from the DNA being brought back into existence. A loud whining noise filled the air and grew louder until it made the very room shake and hum. As they covered their ears, their eyes watched as a plume of translucent smoke swirled down from the top and span around the podium within the Firewall. It span faster and faster until the whine became a smooth thrumming hum and they watched in fascination as the cloud began to coalesce into a form. The cloud did not spiral down or up or go in any other direction, it simply spread out to the width of the Firewall then quickly snapped together until Rodney McKay materialized before them, swaying on newly formed feet and quite obviously unconscious, he slowly fell forward, landing flat on his stomach, his face bouncing lightly off the floor of the podium.

As naked as the day he was born, Rodney McKay lay before them, a surprisingly happy smile on his face. When the Firewall dropped, Carson jumped up onto the podium and checked Rodney's life signs, breathing a sigh of relief and nodding to the others when he felt a strong and steady pulse. A sense of relief fell over the crowded people and they all exchanged smiles and words of gratitude and thankfulness.

"Right, lets get him to the infirmary." Carson said as he got back to his feet. "And someone cover the poor bugger up, eh?"

There were relieved smiles all round as Bann gently lifted Rodney up into his arms, his modesty covered by the flak vest of one of the marines. As Bann carried Rodney out and onto the infirmary, he was followed by a still bleeding Sanac and a troop of others, all of them eager to see how Rodney had fared through his experience, and to find out news of their other fallen comrades. But it was with a heavy feeling of foreboding that Carson led the way, knowing that Rodney, John and Evan, might be in a worse state than the others now hoped for. For all they were currently alive and he was more than grateful for that, two of them were in fact at deaths door. Combined with the major injuries and the unknown condition of Rodney, Carson wondered if any of them would ever return to active duty and he could not help but feel that he would lose his friends no matter how well he put them back together again.

_TBC...Comments welcomed_


	18. Chapter 18

John sat looking out over the ever moving water, lost in thought as a cool breeze toyed with his hair. The last couple of months had passed almost in a blur, the two weeks since Daraal died, passing especially quickly. It had been a long time since he had fought a battle such as he had recently, and a long time since he had felt his life was a lot less important to him than the lives of others. While he was glad to have survived his attempted self sacrifice, he also knew it had been the right thing to do. Despite the scoldings he had received from others, his decision had saved the lives of everyone under threat by the Nenec, and he knew he would do it again in a heartbeat if it meant the same outcome.

While the pain from the attacks had left him in great discomfort, he was alive and so was the majority of Atlantis. He grieved for those who had lost their lives and despite knowing that there was nothing he could have done to prevent their deaths, it still pained him to know that there were three people who would never again walk back through the Gate to Earth. His silent musing turned his thoughts to those who, against the odds, _had_ survived the attack. Like he, they would bear the scars, both mentally and physically for the rest of their lives.

Evan Lorne would forever be reminded of his encounter with the mighty Nenec, but while it had been touch and go whether he would survive, he had pulled through remarkably well. Not quite back to one hundred percent, Carson had said that Lorne would eventually return to active duty, which was a great relief to all and especially to Evan who had worried about a medical discharge back to Earth. While he was almost physically back to normal, he had wounds that would serve as a constant reminder to him and anyone who saw him, of how close Atlantis and its inhabitants had come to being destroyed at the hands of a single entity. In that sense, Lorne had seen the worst of the injuries as the wounds to John's arms were nothing compared to the uneven, lumpy slabs of scarring tissue that Evan had on his arms, neck and face. But if luck were ever to bless anyone, it was Evan Lorne. While he had continually reassured people that the scars would be nothing when the alternative outcome could have been death, his was the most enthusiastic voice in the infirmary when Bann had visited and spoke with Carson of a solution for that particular wound type.

Evan called it the 'miracle in a jar', a salve that Bann had supplied to Carson which was a formula hundreds of years old that had been handed down through the many generations of the Kalisat family. The salve itself was thick and pungent and had felt not unlike being smeared with sweet thick syrup then bound in bandages. While this was mildly uncomfortable, the salve also held topical anaesthetic properties that cooled the burning raw nerves as it healed the damaged skin. In little over a week, it had helped decrease the size and impact of Evan's wounds until little marking was left visible of the trauma inflicted, but he would still bear the worst part of the scarring. On his forehead, just at his hairline, remained the terrible scorch mark left behind by the Nenec's hand. While the salve had most assuredly healed the worst of the damage, he was left with what would be the permanent disfigurement of a semi circular burn scar at the top of his forehead that extended into his hair with the four finger lengths that would forever remain bald.

Evan being Evan, looked at the remaining scarring as a trivial annoyance and had joked that it might only make him look more attractive in a dangerous sort of way. His sense of humour and love of life would essentially see him through the trauma he had endured and he looked forward to a return to active duty. But Carson had said he would not sign him off until the man had returned to Earth for some real relaxation and recuperation, and so Lorne would leave for home soon, to be discharged into the care of his sister who was under the impression he had been caught in a bomb blast. While Evan mostly appeared happy and well adjusted, John saw the expression the man wore when it seemed no one was watching. His haunted eyes showed that the psychological trauma was just as bad if not worse than the physical and this was the reason that Carson was sending him home for a few weeks. The doc was a very astute man, John admitted. John had made sure that Evan knew just how damned proud Sheppard was of him, his actions and his team. Even though Evan had taken a beating, John was sure that the cocky marine would return from his offworld leave as ready and enthusiastic as ever, if not a little more wiser and suspicious.

And of himself, he would be alright in the end. A broken left arm wasn't going to hold him back, nor was his damaged right shoulder. The muscles and tissue had been pretty messed up by Daraal's torturous teeth, but Carson had managed to fix pretty much everything back together again. All he had to do was attend physio once the cast came off his left arm. His jaw still ached, especially when he ate or yawned but it was pretty much nothing to worry over. The claw marks over his face and the burns on his hands and arms have been treated with the same salve used on Lorne's injuries and John was happy with the result. What was left was very little to see, perhaps a difference in skin tone and a small line over the largest tear on his face. But in all, John knew he had been lucky and his injuries were nothing remotely like what he had envisioned they would be. A few weeks more recovery time and he was sure Carson would let him back onto active duty, or at least he hoped.

If there was one good thing to have come out of the entire mess, it was the rekindling of John and Ronon's friendship. The big man had been somewhat shaken by what had happened to John and the extreme lengths that he had been willing to go to save Rodney and the rest of Atlantis. Perhaps it was the fact that he had almost lost Sheppard that had shaken some sense into Ronon and brought him to his bedside the day after Daraal had died and John had woken up. It had come as a great surprise when the man initiated the apologetic conversation and John had tried to cover his shock and amusement as Ronon begged for bygones to be bygones. Of course, John was delighted to have his big friend back at his side and having accepted the apology and offered one in return, he was more than happy not to be subjected to any more of the man's death glares. Ronon also came across as a little less intimidating now that he had less to grump over, something noticed by all personnel on Atlantis, who had suffered through their friendship breakdown. Throughout the interaction, Teyla had sat in the chair on the opposite side of the bed, clearly pleased at the clearing of the air between them. She had gently teased Ronon for his before unheard of openness, but she could not hide her smiles and joy at having the team complete again. She was often found to be smiling when John and Ronon joked around and it warmed John's heart to know that he had his family back.

"Are you okay? Do you need anything?" The voice broke into his thoughts and pulled him back to where he was; sitting in a wheelchair on his favourite pier under a darkening afternoon sky.

John smiled, counting his blessings just to hear that much loved voice again. "I'm fine. I already have everything I need." He replied, turning stiffly to look at the man who sat on the ground beside him.

Rodney looked back at him, one eyebrow arched as if questioning his somewhat cryptic reply. He had not only survived his encounter with the Nenec, but in a way, he had positively gained from it. Rodney looked the same as the day John had first met him; fresh faced, bright eyed and happy. There were no worry lines marking his features, carved by all the experiences of life in the Pegasus galaxy. His hairline was that of a few years ago, not yet receding to the point it had been only a week before. It was if the ascension machine had rebuilt him several years younger, as John swore the man had lost a few years of age, yet he had not changed one bit. He still snarked like an old man, huffed and had tantrums like a teenager, and ranted and fumed like an over bearing professor. He was one hundred percent, Rodney McKay; dependable, somewhat lovable, and a truer more loved brother than John's own blood brother had ever been.

"What?" McKay asked when John's gaze lingered a little longer than he had intended. "What's wrong?"

"Absolutely nothing." He said as he turned back to look out over the ocean.

From the corner of his eye he watched as Rodney shrugged then tugged at his laces and wound them round his fingers. They sat there a little longer in silence, neither wanting to break the peace with words of the evil that had befallen them recently, though John knew that for Rodney, that evil was more distant than it was for anyone else.

When Rodney had awoken, six hours after re-materializing on the platform of the ascension machine in all his naked glory, he had been what Carson had called a blank slate. Eyes vacant and barely responding to pain, it was as if he hadn't woken at all, merely opened his eyes with no thought or mind to do so. They had all feared that they had, for all intents and purposes, lost Rodney to the Nenec after all. For two days there were no signs of improvement and all equipment showed little more than the very basic of brain activity. John began to grieve quietly for Rodney. While loath to do so, Carson pronounced Rodney as being in a persistent vegetative state, much to the dismay and heartbreak of those closest to him. It was nothing short of a miracle, therefore, that he began to speak in unison with Teyla on the fourth day, reciting an Athosian prayer that she had been repeating hourly at his bedside since he had been laid in it. While he had said no more and had not further reacted when spoken to, the fact he had spoken at all was seen as positive by everyone. Then, the worry started. If he wakens completely, if he comes back, what will he be like? Would he ever be able to get over what had happened to him? Or forgive himself for what he had done while under the influence of the Nenec? Would his mind simply self destruct or would he come through this fine?

All of the questions went unanswered for another twenty-four hours, in which time he was seen or heard to do various things. He might laugh at nothing, wave a hand at no one, raise and bend his leg, repeat things that had been heard recently in his vicinity. Carson said it was if his brain was rebooting itself and powering up a little bit at a time, checking various parts of itself which he said was the reason for the strange actions Rodney was displaying. While it all seemed very bizarre, Carson saw it all as very encouraging. Then, one morning as Carson was replacing a spent bag of saline with fresh full one, Rodney had sat straight up in the bed and turned to stare at him.

"What's happened?"

At the time, it had seemed a godsend that Rodney had no recollection of what had occurred. Given his past mental problems, one might be forgiven for believing that his amnesia was a good thing. But in the end it had proved to be substantially more than a mental blockage of one of the most traumatic experiences of his life; it appeared that he had actually lost an entire year of his life. Rodney had no recollection of saving John's life on the slippery slopes of Mount Nulumn, or the fact that when he had returned home he had dabbled with the ascension machine to try to fix his damaged legs. He had no memory of reclaiming his mobility and ridding himself of his accursed wheelchair, and had once again relished at what to him, was his new found ability to walk. He had forgotten a years worth of research, twelve months of work and experiences and of course, he knew absolutely nothing about Daraal S'unu't. Sometimes he would remember something, a fleeting image in his mind of a thing he once knew, and it would be up to the others to fill him in on what that particular image meant. But thankfully, not once, yet, had an image of the past few weeks ever entered his mind and Carson hoped that his mind would forever lock away those particular experiences from him. Rodney knew of course, what had happened. It would have been entirely unfair to keep it from him and there was no sugar coating any of the details. Rodney had taken it well, and while it had shaken and upset him, he remained somewhat distant from it all. This meant that he never fully understood the horrors of what had happened at that time and the experience remained a second hand tale that he should have remembered, but would never really feel he was part of. They all hoped that Rodney would never have to relive the awful things he had done at the hands of the Nenec.

John smiled again, feeling glad that Rodney was relatively oblivious of what had happened. It was then that the heavy clouds above began to shed their watery load and the rain fell fast and heavy upon them. Rodney scrambled to his feet, grabbing the handles of the wheelchair and pushed John, in what was a strange role reversal for them both.

"Damn that's cold!" Rodney huffed as the doors swished closed behind them and he wiped his rain soaked face upon his sleeve.

"I'm feeling a little tired anyway, so it's good timing." John said as Rodney pushed the wheelchair down the corridor.

In his current condition John was unable to propel the chair himself, but he quite happily sat there and allowed Rodney to push him back to his room. It was only an aid to allow him to get him around while recovering, and while he would be glad to be eventually rid of it, he never once complained out of deep regard for Rodney's once endurance of a similar contraption. It was a testament to Rodney's resolve to have put up with the wheelchair with such little complaint for as long as he had.

When the door to his room swished open, Rodney pushed him right up to his bedside, then helped him from the chair to his bed with strong arms and a firm grip. As Rodney moved the chair out of the way, John lifted his painkillers bottle, put it between his knees and tried to open it one handed. While he could probably have struggled on and eventually opened the damned thing, he gave in and handed the bottle to Rodney a few moments after he had asked to let him open it. His arms may currently be out of commission, and though he could use them somewhat, opening a medicine bottle was just a little out of his current abilities. Rodney popped the lid off the painkillers and placed it and the bottle on the bedside cabinet then fetched John a fresh glass of water.

"You know, I'm pretty sure I still have a token for free Asam pie somewhere. What say when I finally get back on my feet we hit Muo and finally cash in on it?" John said tiredly as he swung his legs onto the bed and lay down.

"Sure! So long as we start of with a Gnator Muo'sh platter." Rodney replied as he helped John pull up his duvet then turned to leave.

He stopped in the doorway and looked back at John, his bright eyes suddenly tinged with sadness. "I am sorry for what happened to you and the others." Rodney said. "I mean, I might not remember it, but it was my actions that left you all like this."

"Don't punish yourself over it Rodney. Like I said before, you weren't in the driving seat when the car crashed, so it isn't your fault."

"Yeah but I'm the one who put the vehicle in motion. I'm the one who hit reintegrate."

Rodney's words stole the sleep from John's mind and he struggled to sit back up again. "You...you remember?"

"No, not really." Rodney said as he picked at the edges of the doorway with his fingers. "I remember, little things. Like the the word reintegrate written on a screen. Lots of noise and light. That's it really."

John sighed and lay back down. He knew there was a possibility that his memories would return, but he had actually hoped they had been erased completely.

Sensing a growing concern, Rodney took a step back into the room. "You don't have to worry about it, or me for that matter. What happened, happened and whether or not I remember it is irrelevant. I know, that at the end of the day, you, Teyla and Ronon will be there to help me. As you always have been."

John looked at Rodney and for the first time in a long time, he knew he didn't have to worry about the man. Rodney not only looked different, he _was_ different. From the way he stood with a new air of confidence to the look of steely determination in his eyes, John was quite sure that Rodney was stronger than he had ever been and it put his own mind at ease.

"Knowing that I experienced something yet have no memory of it, gives me a unique perspective of it all. It was terrible, horrendous and more awful than anything we might ever have experienced, but I can look on it from a distance. The impact of it all is diluted to me and while I feel some guilt over what that thing did through me, I get to understand it from an outsiders point of view. I'm on the outside looking in, so to speak. In a way this is a good thing as it makes me understand more readily that, even though I put the whole thing in motion, it was not me that caused the destruction. I can cope with that. Hopefully, coping with it now will only aid me if those memories ever come back in full."

John wasn't entirely convinced of Rodney's reasoning, but then, he never had fully understood the way the man's mind worked. Not that it mattered what he thought or understood, all that mattered was that Rodney had set himself up a safety net for when the now inevitable fall came, and John was sure he would be absolutely fine.

"So long as you know it was never your fault, and that I'll be there, always, should you need me."

Rodney nodded his head and stepped up to the door again. "Anyway," he said, a smile on his face. "Better leave you to enjoy your afternoon nap. I'll pop back later, but just call if you need anything."

John nodded as his eyelids drooped, safe in the knowledge that his family was whole again, and that they had all made it through in a better state than he could ever imagined or hoped for.

"I'll always be there for you, too." Rodney's words were but a whisper as the doors swished closed, but John had heard them, and he fell asleep with a contented smile on his face.

_TBC in the next and final chapter...Comments very welcome!_


	19. Chapter 19. Final Chapter

The Scoops were flying frequently, which meant no one would have to endure the trek to the Gardens Plateau above, or have to stagger back down after enjoying some happy hours at the Nulumn restaurant. The Scoops had been built to allow maximum view of beautiful Mount Nulumn and today, the sight was simply breathtaking. The sun shone bright and warm above in the clear blue sky, and there was thankfully no signs of any impending Dark Shift. The waterfalls of deep blue water glistened in the light, falling to become pools that spread out then meandered through pristine white channels of hard stone, between the rows and rows of well kept flower beds. The pale white trees were once again clothed in their delicate golden leaves and the plateau had quite obviously survived the Dark Shift that had almost blown it to pieces some months previous.

The Scoop, expertly piloted by non other than Bann himself, touched down close to the restaurant, coming to rest on a square clearing surrounded by blossoming flowers. The doors of the Scoop opened out onto the famed Gardens of Nulumn with all of its scents and sights and it felt good to walk in such beauty, free from worry and stress.

"Today, be we celebrating life itself. Mine friends good be safe, life return and we be forging many new happy memories." Bann said as he led them into the restaurant.

They were met by three spotless Muoan waiters who took their jackets and showed them to their seats. Those who were already seated in the restaurant, many well dressed Muoans, turned their heads to stare momentarily at the group, smiles on their furry faces and John began to wonder if this was in fact, a party being thrown for them.

"Everyone!" Bann's voice boomed clearly across the restaurant. "Great treasured friends of Atlantis be here!" He roared, confirming John's suspicions.

Everyone got to their feet, clapping their hands and cheering, nodding their heads with deep regard to the people they thought of as heroes, of having freed them from the scourge of the Nenec. To say John and the others were mortified was an understatement, but such was the flamboyant ways of the Muoan culture, and so they nodded back and smiled pleasantly in thanks for the acclaim.

Bann leaned towards John, his huge head a few inches from his ear and spoke in a low voice. "Forgive me I. Had known you, I be knowing you would not have been coming this day." He winked then stood tall, opening his arms wide as he looked out over the entire restaurant.

"Have of many things, enjoy all that you can be eating. Greatest pleasure to be treating mine friends good to their favourite meals, and that of all present also."

As everyone took their seats, finally looking away from the abashed group of Lanteans, the door to the kitchen opened wide, and a stream of waiters pushed out trolleys filled to overflowing with foods of all descriptions.

"Ah now this, this is what I'm talking about!" Rodney smiled as he licked his lips, his eyes bulging at sight of the delicacies he would soon enjoy. "I'm starving!"

"You're hardly starving, McKay. You polished off a plateful of sticky chicken less than two hours ago." Ronon growled, a smirk on his face.

"Yes, well, that was hardly a plateful. That was a canteen serving, not even enough to adequately feed a child." Rodney replied, watching as the large tureens of food as they were laid out before them. As well as many varied, steaming and mouth watering deliciousness, there was an extra large serving dish with Gnator Muo'sh and an extra large Asam Pie placed in the centre of their table.

As Rodney watched the others begin to fill their plates, he thought about how nice it was, to be able to sit and enjoy a simple meal with them all, although this meal was far from simple. Despite the fact that they were the centre of attention that day, Rodney really didn't mind. It was the first chance in quite some time that they had all been able to sit together and share a meal, and he was determined to enjoy it.

John had been off active duty until he was fully healed and while that meant no offworld missions, he spent a lot of time catching up on reports, for once. Like Rodney, he was often found slumped over said reports, drool dripping from his mouth as he snored. But then, writing reports had never really been his forte.

Lorne had not long returned from his prescribed time on Earth, and he was looking much better than he had before he left. He bore some scars, but with his fresh healthy tan and ever so slightly longer than usual hair, the scarring was not quite as obvious as had thought might be. Filled to bursting with stories of his nephew and newly born niece, time spent with Evan Lorne was always a good time, just as it always had been.

Ronon and Teyla had been continuing their missions and delegation work, and had been kept quite busy with trade and supply runs. It meant that they often missed meal times, eating while on mission and missing time with their team. But they were happy, contributing to the working of Atlantis. Knowing that the team would eventually get back together, kept them going.

As for Rodney himself, well, for a long time he kept to himself and hid away from people. He isolated himself to a small degree, mostly while he worked through what had happened to him and the repercussions of his actions. It hadn't been easy to reach the point he was currently at, the guilt and self loathing had almost consumed him. It had helped that no one ever blamed him for what happened, no one ever shunned him. Sure, at times, some were more than happy to point out that had he not meddled in things he did not fully understand, the Nenec would never have wrought the damage it had. But it was never said with any malice, just as a warning for him to slow down when he appeared to be rushing into something.

He continued to live his life and love it for what it was. He had long decided that life was too short to mope over, and so enjoyed it the best he could. Having forgotten his initial recovery, he was still filled with the joy of being able to walk again, and this helped carry him through his darker times. The two years of chair bound disablement had almost been forgotten as he had pushed it to the back of his mind with all the other memories of his most vulnerable times. On the days that he felt nostalgic, he might contemplate his fortune at having survived two life changing occurrences in his time, but most days he just carried on and lived his life for the present and occasionally, the future. On the rare days in which he just could not hold back the thoughts, he would brood over what had happened, but days like that never ended well. They usually ended with him drunk on a pier with John Sheppard. Sometimes the pilot laughed with him to cheer him up, some times he consoled him when he cried tears of regret, but no matter what, John was always there for him.

In the time since the Nenec and Rodney's DNA were unraveled in the ascension machine, a curious Carson Beckett, had continued to delve into the files on the Nenec and had made some important discoveries. Not only had the Ancients sought a way to destroy the Nenec, they had also managed to use its DNA to further medicine in ways no one ever thought possible. After a great amount of research and careful testing, Carson found treatments for several complaints and illnesses that before have gone untreated. The more astounding findings included a cure for Brinki fever, a common, deadly virus in the Pegasus galaxy, and had already saved the lives of two Atlantis crew members. The discoveries would always be tinged with the loss of those who died at that dark time, but, moving forward was the key.

When the team had got back together again a week or so ago, it was with a new appreciation for the lives of others, as well as their own. In time, the memories of what happened and the Nenec, faded, soon forgotten under the weight of newer, happier memories. But the incident was never completely forgotten, it served as a reminder of how fragile life was, and how the actions of one, might have major ramifications for others. It made them much more careful when dealing with new discoveries, and a little less hurried to dive into them without first doing their research, very thoroughly.

Rodney himself became the most cautious of all, fearing that he might unleash something as deadly as the Nenec upon the galaxy again. Of course, this meant working at the same pace as the others, but he didn't really mind. In fact, Rodney didn't mind a lot of things these days, deciding that life, was just too short to throw away with worry, petty squabbles, and stressing. It didn't stop him being his usual snarky self, but he was far more at peace with himself than he had ever been. The only unknown variable that might change the equilibrium, would be the sudden return of the memories he had lost. But as the weeks passed by, it seemed increasingly unlikely that they would ever return. This made him happy as he knew what he needed to know, and that was as much as he wanted.

The sound of cutlery hitting off glass drew everyone's attention towards Bann. The large Muoan raised his glass of Alfashan ale, and held it towards the table the Lanteans were seated at.

"It been has, mine honor, to have Atlantis dwellers as friends mine. Trusted, beloved friends great. Hard days seen we all, and on this day fine, beautiful sun day filled, we honoring these friends be. Raising glasses all please, to appreciate all love that be ours. To acknowledge the lives been that be taken gone. But especially high raise glasses, in to honor these friends good. Ever welcomed, ever trusted, ever great."

There sounded the clinking of glasses, the passionate Muoan roar of celebration and extended applause that made the tips of John's ears turn red. Then Rodney, completely out of character and perhaps a little more tipsy on the ale he rarely drank than he cared to admit, shouted over the noise.

"And God bless us, everyone!"

The applause grew louder at this while John stared hard at Rodney, a lopsided grin on is face. "I can't believe you just quoted Dickens."

Rodney grinned back as he took another sip of his ale. "Well, it seemed fitting."

John nodded and took a sip of his own ale, as Teyla raised her glass towards everyone seated at the table.

"To all of us. May we always be happy in each others company and let us never be strangers. Love to you all, much love to you all." She said with a wide, happy smile.

"Here here!" Lorne cried, raising his own glass to clink against Teyla's, the action followed by the others.

"Right!" Rodney put his glass down, clapped once, then rubbed his hands together. "Now that all the pleasantries are over, Gimme a huge plateful of that steaming pile of deliciousness!" He said, pointing at the Gnator Muo'sh.

If anything good had come out of the situation involving the Nenec, it was to bring these people closer to one and other. It was clear to anyone looking on, that everyone sat at the Lantean table were more than just friends, more than just colleges. They might once have been strangers, but some time ago, without any of them really noticing, they became, family.

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_The End... A huge thank you to everyone who took the time to comment and read Unforeseen! I can only apologize for the time between updates, but I said I would finish it, and I did. Perhaps next time, I will write it all up front and post it over a period of time instead as when real life gets busy, it gets BUSY! I really battled with myself about whether or not to add a final twist like I usually do. In the end, I decided that, for once, they all should be happy. I hope you agree :) Anyway, thanks for sticking around, I really hope that you enjoyed it! Let me know by feeding my Dragony soul some cookie comments! For now, peace to all and ciao! x_

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_A bright green light flashed in the darkness. Once, twice, and then a third time before the occupant of the dark room opened its eyes to look towards it. The eyes shone in the darkness, an eerie white light held behind yellow sclera and slitted pupils. It grunted, shuffled towards the green light, then grunted again. Pressing the homemade console before it, a message was played through the single speaker, sounding tinny and loud in the quiet room._

_"My name is Daraal S'unu't of T'ny'k, and I call on all Nenec, to hear my words..."_

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_MUAHAHAHAHAHA!_


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